Summer is fast approaching and many students will be returning home or traveling elsewhere to find a job. For a college student, there is often the question of internship or summer bill-paying job?
An internship may advance a student’s future career, but offer little or no pay, making the financing of their education a difficult task. A summer job may take care of the financial issue, but what will it offer in the long-run? It’s a catch 22 that college students face summer after summer.
Summerjobs.com lists helpful hints for getting both summer jobs and internships under their “Articles/Advice” section. The site gives tips on how to prepare a cover letter, write a resume, land a seasonal dream job and a list of top ten tips for finding a dream internship.
As far as finding an internship goes, summerjobs.com suggests that the student, “Plan ahead, write a resume and cover letter that showcase your skills.”
They also remind students that, “Internship coordinators and employers don’t expect you to have a lot of work experience. But, you should use your resume to highlight your talents, skills and extracurricular activities and sports. Show employers what you have accomplished, whether it was in another job or through sports or school activities. Emphasize skills you have that will help the bottom line of the company and articulate how you will be a producer.”
The site continues with, “Know your audience, use correct spelling and grammar, have reference letters prepared, be clear about your availability, don’t wait for the internship to come to you, get the right contact information, network: Use your network of family, friends, friends’ family, school and work contacts to find out about possible internships. If your friends and acquaintances know you are looking for an internship they will be likely to let you know when they hear about one. Also, attend industry events in your area. In most major cities there are interest groups, clubs, professional associations and large conferences related to specific industries. Identify these groups and events and try to participate. You can attend huge conferences like Internet World, complete with its .com career fair and access to.”
Summer jobs don’t just have to be waiting tables or office temp work-though there is nothing wrong with doing those things. It is possible to find seasonal jobs within a student’s major area of study. This may be the answer to finding work that will pay the bills while simultaneously looking good on a resume.
For example, a theatre performance student may be able to find a job working at a box office for the summer. It may not be performance, but a job like that demonstrates determination to stay within the general area of study. It could offer important contacts that will be useful later on.
Lauren Burbank, a sophomore musical theatre and voice performance major at Plymouth State University, has been working as a waitress for the last four summers and will be returning once again this year.
“It is a job where my bosses know me well, and know that I’m dependable, therefore I tend to get the hours that are convenient for me. I am also able to get most days off that I need off,” said Burbank.
Starting her job right after her sixteenth birthday, Burbank began as a waitress on the night shifts, but now has been given morning shifts as well.
“Going from the night shift to the day shift is in itself a huge privilege,” she added, “Only the girls that have been there for awhile generally make it on to mornings. The morning shift allows for better tips.”
In an effort to solve the issue of having a job that will look good on a resume, Burbank took a second job as a teacher, camp counselor and performer at a high school camp in New Hampton that will last a few weeks during the summer. She learned of this job from her advisor who e-mailed her with information.
Burbank said, “Working at home can definitely be frustrating, but the fact of the matter is that I am a college student that can’t only depend on her parents paying for her education, and working at home definitely offers an excellent opportunity to make some cash to go towards my tuition.”