Lady_Winter Major: International Relations Status: Editor

Internship as the Reality of Our Studying.
Lena Melikhova

For many of us the task of finding an internship in the USA can be the hard one. First of all I want to mention that it is not right to say that it must be much easier to find the internship in a big city than in a small one. In the small town you know at least where to go, and where to ask as the result of the limited choice. In a huge city, for example in Chicago, you are lost in the variety of possibilities. You have a set of well-known companies, but no idea how to get there.

There is a special service in your university to make your task in finding the internship easier and more productive. It can be called in different ways in different universities, for instance it can be Career Planning Center. As a rule, its work is to register your internship as a class; you will get some credits for the internship (the number of credits depends on the university). Usually you can get from 3 to 6 credits. You will be registered according to your major and than you will get a kit of possible organizations where you can find a place for yourself. It does not mean that this office will find a company for you; it just helps you to get to know the circle of organizations, which offer internships in your major.
After that you are calling, sending resumes, and having interviews with the recruiters. In small cities the similar office of your university can find an internship for you, and then you are a lucky one. Sometimes your internship, found by the university, can be a paid one. You MUST be terribly glad, because it is not so often for international student to get paid for internship. If you are not eager to get credits for your work, you can apply independently and then you can correct the number of hours for your internship without the university’s requirement.
The truth is – if you want to get a paid or just suitable internship which will satisfy your interests completely, you must start your search at the very beginning of your academic year. In this case you can choose and not to stick to the only one opportunity found in the last minute and under the pressure of ACCELS or IREX. It is not fair to say that our agency does not care about us and our internships.
For sure, if it is a due time and you have nothing to report about, you will get troubles with your agency advisor, but he or she still can advise you where to try to find a place. For the search the best variant is the Internet. This net covers much more information than that you can find on your own. You can ask your professors or advisors (especially business, international studies majors). Do not agree with any conditions they offer, enjoy your time, apply to different organizations and think everything over. The good source could be yellow (white) pages or guide reference book.

And remember one thing that is the main for our supervisors- your work as an intern must be in concordance to your major. So good luck with your search and have fun at your work place.

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