Spring into summer internships

By: Olivia Wile

Email: wileo@findlay.edu

Twitter: o_wile

With spring break over and less than two months left of the University of Findlay 2019 spring semester, it’s time to start preparing for the summer.

Whether traveling home or planning to pick back up with that same summer job, it may be time to consider building a more meaningful life and productive career – perhaps through an internship.

Seth Butler, professional development counselor at the UF Center for Career and Professional Development, says that aside from just the experience, an internship can lead to job opportunities in the future.

“I think one of the greatest values that internships provide is the fact that they can be a streamline entryway into fulltime opportunities,” said Butler.  “It’s leading to open doors for full time employment.”

When it comes to experience versus GPA, Butler explains that more and more employers are looking for hands-on experience.

“Not to undermine GPA, but if you talk to any employer, they would prefer a less than perfect GPA with a lot of good hands-on experience.”

Findlay alumni Brittany Borzych says her summer internship experiences helped confirm she was following the right career path.

“My first [internship] was in the summer of 2017 after my sophomore year,” said Borzych. “It was a forensics internship so it helped me with my professional connections, gave me references and validated my intuition that this was what I wanted to do.”

Borzych also completed an internship during the summer of 2018 with the University of Dayton Research Institute which stationed her at the Eglin Air Force Base in Destin, Fla. As she graduated a semester early in December, she has already had several interviews early in her job search.

“I’m still interviewing for a position, but I love getting to go all different places and learning something from every interview.”

As far as the internship search goes, Butler says that he is big fan of LinkedIn.

“I’m a huge advocate for LinkedIn. The reason why is because it provides the opportunity to actually connect and network with someone directly.”

Butler says the CCPD also provides both current UF students and alumni access to Career Shift, a job listing side.

“That platform does a really good job of having the capabilities to locate relevant positions,” said Butler. “Not just something that happens to be out there that’s been out there for 40 days and viewed by 3,000 people.”

Though both LinkedIn and Career Shift can be helpful sites to start the process, Butler feels that relationships are the strongest way to find both internships and jobs.

We know that 80 percent of interviews come by way of referral,” said Butler. “Given those statistics, what I want more than a perfect resume or a perfect GPA is people referring me.”

Students can schedule an appointment with the CCPD for help with their own internship or job search, work on their resume, cover letter, or just get some professional advice. To learn more visit, https://www.findlay.edu/offices/student-affairs/internships/.

 

 

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