As a college student, sometimes it feels as though we have to secure five major internships with Fortune 500 companies if we want to successfully find a job after graduation. And, instead of getting paid for our work, we actually have to pay for the valuable experience so we get the required amount of credits. Stressful, right?
I frantically searched for a summer internship the winter of my sophomore year, secretly hoping I would end up far away from Pennsylvania, in New York City or Los Angeles, interning for Dolce & Gabbana or NBC or anything in the Hearst Tower. I wanted an internship with a wow factor. I had no prior experience, no idea what to write for my cover letter and nothing notable on my resume. I got one interview, not in NYC or LA, but 20 minutes away from my hometown with a local magazine called Susquehanna Style Magazine. I was offered the internship, took it and made the best decision of my summer.
I thought I was ready to take on any internship this summer, but after a summer at a local publication, I realized how much I didn’t know about the magazine industry. I didn’t even know how to attach a flash unit to the top of a digital camera. I had (and still have) a lot to learn.
Internships provide you with experience you don’t get sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture. I got to see the office side of a public relations job and the event planning side. Instead of getting my supervisors coffee, I actually contributed ideas and articles to Susquehanna Style Magazine. Local, smaller companies put a lot of trust in their interns and treat them like actual employees. I was given multiple writing assignments over the course of my internship that actually will appear in print. I was also given the opportunity to travel around to different areas of Pennsylvania and visit places I have never been before. If you get an awesome internship around your hometown, you might just start to appreciate where you came from a little bit more.
Sure, internships are important and we should all aim for our goals and shoot for the stars. But, getting your first internship at a smaller local company is just as beneficial as starting out interning at a huge corporation. I learned so much this summer and I’m proud of my internship.
The moral of the story is not to sweat it if you don’t get an internship with a huge company right away. Starting out somewhere small and unheard of could be the best decision you ever make.
Megan Wesley liked this on Facebook.
Molly Megenity Acri liked this on Facebook.