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How soon should I find an internship in my field ?

I'm waiting until the summer of my junior or senior year to apply for internships so I can continue another job I'm committed to. Will that affect my options later on as I pursue a career in Bio-medical Illustration ? #internships #jobs # #general

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Ken’s Answer

You should start looking for an internship as soon (the sooner the better) as you can in your education/career journey. Even looking in high school is a great idea. The main purpose of an internship is to enable you to get an inside view of a career area. Career areas always have an outside view and an inside view - and they are not always the same or what you expect them to be. The earlier that you can get into an internship (or a coop program) , the earlier you will be able to decide if you are on the proper career track.


Here is an interesting internship story involving my daughter.

During my daughter's senior year in high school, the highlight of the year (and of the whole high school experience) was to be a several month long internship program. Everyone signed up and indicated the type of internship that they wanted - all except for one girl. This girl wanted to become a doctor and wanted her internship to be with the local EMS unit at the local fire station. So, she talked to the head of the EMS unit and got his approval and made arrangements with the school to create her own internship. Of all of the students about which I heard, she was the one who benefited the most by her internships. My daughter's was definitely not the highlight of her school career. Her first choice fell through and her final assignment was not really what she wanted and did not give her the type of exposure that she had hoped for.


This shows that you can create your own internship! Locate a company that fits the parameters of the type of experience and exposure that you are seeking and work with them and the appropriate people in your school to put it in motion. After all, if there is an internship program existing today, anywhere, it had to be created by someone.


Below are some good tips on properly identifying your career area of interest and developing networking that will enable you to develop contacts to facilitate becoming involved in internships, coop programs, and appropriate employment after graduation.

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
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Lorena’s Answer

Hi Aimee, Ken did an excellent job in answering that question. I myself am a First Generation student and I wish I knew how essential internships and volunteering were, long before I reached University. I am assuming you are in college and you do not know quite yet which direction you are heading and that is perfectly okay.
Even though you are close to graduating it is not too late. Ideally, you would want to have internships as early as Sophmore year. The reason being is that it still gives you a few more years to think about the direction you are going, and have backup plan in case you change your mind. The internships you have will not negatively affect you, even if you change majors. I would suggest the following:

Lorena recommends the following next steps:

Join Organizations on campus that relate to future goals.
Research companies that you have an interest in, and look for internship or volunteer opportunities.
Email a professor with a similar position(you do not have to know them), let them who you are, and what direction you are wanting to take. They will be able to guide you.
Volunteer in places where you can start forming connections.
Create a LinkedIn.
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