In October 2009 I blogged about creating the greatest internship program on earth. It is finally happening and these days, anything that screams 'intern' quickly grabs my attention. Not that it hasn't always - I have been working with interns for years, but since the launch this week of Business and Students in Careers (BASIC) even more so.
As I was doing some reconnaissance work today and stopped by SimplyHired.com I noticed a poll on why students want a part-time job or internship. I find the results surprising. They show:
Students don't need much money. Or more likely, they are children of parents clearly not pushing for emancipation.
About 40% think it's important to 'gain some experience'. That means about 60% have not been educated on the importance of experiential learning, resume building, professional networking,
A very small percentage recognize that being in the field, sleeves rolled up side by sidewith professionals isindispensable.
An even smaller percentage take the opportunity to intern or take a part-time job to aid in career exploration.
It appears almost 40% ofrespondents are looking at their internship or part-time job as a foot in the door. That's interesting but it leaves quite an area of opportunity to view an internship or part-time job as experiential learning in a work lab.
The other humongous area of opportunity that jumps out at me here is for the case management of students through the institutions of higher education they attend and support financially. If I ruled the world, students would have an internship per semester. Professional development wouldn't be one class it would be an ongoing processparallelingthe academic experience of a degree, holding no less importance than theory.
What are your views on the poll results and how would interning work if you ruled the world?
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