Benefits of an Internship

Our next Sociology at Work video is coming up later this week. We’ll be talking about the benefits of doing an internship as part of your degree.

Requirements

Not all universities offer internships as an option to coursework. Many courses will only allow top students with Distinction grades or higher to apply.

If you get this opportunity, it is an invaluable experience.

Internships are often for third-year or Honours students. If you’re still only in the first or second year of your undergraduate degree, and you’re unsure whether your university offers this, speak to your course advisors as early as possible.

Work experience

Internships give you a chance to do real-world applied sociology.

Most community and industry placements will mean you will get to work as a research assistant on a project. You may put together literature reviews; carry out surveys; do statistical analyses; or you might participate in ethnographies.

You might do community engagement. This could mean visiting local service centres to assist in education or leisure programs; you might help compile resources for training packages; you might assist with rehabilitation or case management.

You’ll likely have to write a report on your research experiences for your university as well as your placement. This not only fulfills your educational requirements, it demonstrates your ability to analyse and synthesize information for clients.

Career Benefits

All of this looks great on a resume, and, even better, you’ll have concrete research and workplace examples that you can draw on for your next job interview.

Employers want to know how you handle the pressure of doing research and community work under dynamic conditions. They’ll want to hear you reflect on how you project manage, how you prioritise tasks, how you plan your time and how you work in a multidisciplinary setting. Internships give you some of this experience.

Internships are great for networking. I once managed an Honours student as part of an industry placement organisation. They did a great job so we hired them as a contractor after they finished their course.

Payment

My workplace pays our interns. Some not-for-profit groups cannot afford to pay, so universities may arrange for the placement in lieu of other coursework for one semester. Nevertheless, this may be unfeasible for many students. Speak to your research coordinator on what funding options may be available.

Learn more

Tune in on Thursday to hear our guest, Sue Malta, reflect on how her student internship helped get her research career off the ground. The video will be posted Thursday Asia Pacific time, Friday elsewhere else.

See here for the video and summary.