How Internships Help Your Personal Growth
There’s no doubt that doing an internship is a good idea. If your college is one that requires an internship as part of its curriculum, take full advantage of the opportunity.
If you’ve never done an internship before, you probably have a few questions about what the experience will be like and how it’ll benefit you. I did three internships in total throughout college: two at the same office in my hometown, and one during my semester abroad.
Though different, each experience taught me a lot about how an organization functions, my interests, and my likes and dislikes within the field. Not to mention, some of the connections I made during those internships have been long-lasting.
To help you get a better sense of the internship experience, here are 5 ways an internship will help your personal growth.
1. Professional, Real-World Experience
As a student, you shouldn’t be expected to know everything about how the professional field works (although how professors and people sometimes treat the matter is a different story). Having an internship is how you get real-world experience, though.
It’s a way for you to dip your toes into your field and learn the ins and outs while you’re still in school—an opportunity to take what you’ve been learning in the classroom and translate it to the real world.
Think of an internship like a stepping stone to help prepare you for your eventual career. Not to mention, it’s a great resume builder, too!
2. Improve Your Hard Skills and Soft Skills
There’s truly no better teacher than experience. Whether it’s learning hard skills like how software works, or improving soft skills like communication and problem solving, an internship will put you and your skills to the test. You’ll be challenged with small, menial tasks, but also some responsibility, too. All of this is designed to help you become a more informed and well-rounded young professional. Hopefully, by the end of your internship, you’ll walk away with more skills, better skills, and an overall sense of growth.
3. Authentic Networking
There’s no better way to create real, meaningful, and lasting connections, than by actually working with people. To this day, I still keep in contact with my internship supervisor (hey Julie!). Coworkers are a lot like classmates in the way that you see them everyday and are able to develop professional relationships in a natural, authentic way.
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Simply put, internships help you get to know people. You witness how others work, and others will get to see what kind of worker you are. The people you work with during an internship can become the basis for your network. Plus, you never know where your connections could lead down the road.
Check out my article on Creative Conversation Starters For Authentic Networking for more ideas!
4. Explore Your Field
Career exploration is huge when you’re in college. Even if you’re someone who’s known what you’ve wanted to do since you were a little kid, it still doesn’t hurt to explore a field further. By doing an internship, you’ll learn about things you do and don’t like about a job, work environment, and industry. You’ll probably even discover a few things you never would’ve known about otherwise.
If you’re still putting some feelers out there about what kind of career you want, an internship is a good way to explore your interests. If anything, it could help you solidify a decision to enter a certain field, or make you rethink your next career steps. Either way, an internship is meant to be a learning experience to help you keep moving in the right direction.
5. Build Confidence
It can be intimidating to enter a position knowing you “don’t really know what you’re doing.” But at some point, you’ve got to rip off the bandaid and learn, and this is your chance to do just that. An internship teaches you firsthand how an office, business, or organization functions, and that’s a valuable experience to have, no matter what field you enter.
Knowing how to be comfortable in any professional environment will help you approach any future experiences with confidence. The goal is that after an internship ends, you’ll be able to think to yourself (to a certain extent) “okay, I know what I’m doing.” And that kind of confidence can’t be learned in a classroom.
If you’re in the process of searching and applying to internships, keep these things in mind. Hopefully, your internship will be a positive (and paid!) experience. As long as you enter the role with an open mind, willingness to learn, and positive attitude, you'll not only experience professional development, but personal growth, too. Before you know it, you’ll be an intern pro and on your way to the career you really want!
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Meet The Writer!
Hello! My name is Lea Rose and I am an avid writer with a love for all things international. I recently graduated from UNC Charlotte with degrees in Communication Studies as well as Dance Performance and hope to be a full time travel writer one day. My writing primarily focuses on the ways places and experience shape us as individuals. Please feel free to check out my blog or connect with me through LinkedIn or Instagram @writtenworldblog..
