With winter break within reach, it’s also time to start looking at your future schedules. This is an opportune time to start an internship in your future field of work. Many students opt to take an internship position during the spring and summer season because they have more time and it is less stressful.
Internships offer a “real world” experience as well as learn new skills and practice their old ones in testing driving their career. Internships can be paid or unpaid, but many interns find themselves with a job offer after their internship time has ended. Students are able to network with future employers and create ties with companies to add to their resumes.
According to internships.com, an internship is defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession. Unlike a job, internships are considered more exploratory and help a student gain experience in their future field of work.
The Career and Professional Development Center here at Seton Hill University (SHU) is one of the most important places to look for internship postings. The list is divided into subsections for each division at SHU– Business, Education, Humanities, Natural and Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Visual and Performing Arts.
The listing will provide the internship title, name of the employer, position type and duration and a brief description of the internship. The opportunities are constantly being updated, so it is important to check back often. It is also never a bad idea to schedule an appointment with one of the career advisors to discuss and plan internship and job opportunities.
Bernadette Fondy, Acting Chair of the Division of Natural and Health Sciences and a professor at SHU, says internships provide hands-on experience in the field that you are planning to enter and allows you to demonstrate your skills for in the workplace.
“They help students demonstrate initiative and creativity,” said Fondy. With some internships, Fondy says students often report to their classmates and present what they’ve learned to educate other students.
The first step to getting an internship is to put yourself out there and apply to every internship that applies to you and your future career path. “If you don’t apply, you’re not going to get it,” said Fondy. While it really depends on internship, Fondy says one of the most important years to work as an intern is junior year or between junior year and senior year.
To get an idea of where internships are offered and have been taken, here is a short list of where students have interned from this year and past years for each division.
Business
-First Commonwealth Bank
-Westmoreland Cultural Trust
-Chick-fil-A at Eastgate Plaza
-Excela Health
Education
-American Red Cross of Western PA
-Reading Is FUNdamental Pittsburgh
-Greensburg Community Development Corporation
-Carnegie Science Center
Humanities
-Write Local
-Westmoreland Museum of American Art
-PPG Industries, Inc
-WTAE-TV
Natural and Health Sciences
-University of Pittsburgh, Summer Undergraduate Research (REU)
-Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center: Mentoring in Medicine Program
-Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office
-Western PA Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Inc.
Social Sciences
-Blackburn Center
-Children’s Bureau
-Excela Health Human Resources Department
-Adelphoi Village
Visual and Performing Arts
-SUNY Stony Brook
-Carnegie Museum of Art
-Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh
-CBS KDKA-TV WPCW Pittsburgh
Also discuss with your advisor opportunities for a internship in your schedule. They might have connections or ideas you haven’t thought about!
Published By: Paige Parise