Experiential learning offers opportunities for career advancement
As internships become more important for students’ future success, the University of Rhode Island’s career advisors and alumni are looking to help current students find resources to gain first-hand experience.
Entering higher education and earning a degree helps students prepare for their professions, yet employers are also interested in applicants with experience.
Megan Little, a URI alumna in pharmaceutical science, said that getting job experience in college is important and it helped her succeed in her career after graduating. She also said that internships can give student’s perspective on what they want to do in the future.
“Experience is the most important thing that you gain from internships; it really opened up my eyes,” Little said. “I actually realized — getting an internship at a pharmaceutical company — that a pharmaceutical company is not what I want to do, and I’d rather work in a lab.”
In addition to this, students can also benefit from making connections and expanding their network in internships, according to her.
Little now works in the department of clinical pharmacology and commercial marketing, a subdivision of Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, the company she began her career interning with.
Miya Luff, a senior in the health studies program at URI, was an intern at South County Hospital for two semesters. She earned a total of 12 credits in the program, three of which were from the ITR 304, the internship program’s mandatory colloquium course to take alongside an internship.
“The ITR course definitely helped me in my professional life,” Luff said. “I definitely took some stuff with me that I still use to this day.”
Luff did not find an internship through URI, though she did find her current part-time job at a URI career fair. She said that these resources should be better advertised to students.
URI offers many resources to students that will prepare them for their careers after graduation. Erica Cassidy, assistant director of career advising, explained the many options available to students through the Career Center.
“At the Career Center,” she said, “students can come to us, hopefully as early as freshman year, to start working on everything related to their future career and their career path; things like working on a resume, help looking for internships, help with their job search, doing mock interviews and attending seminars on salary negotiation.”
Before pandemic restrictions, the University also offered the Career Closet, where students could go to be measured for a suit. The Career Closet, although temporarily closed, also helps students find professional work attire. Under normal circumstances, Talent Development collaborates with the Career Closet to help with the cost of suits and other professional apparel for students who need it.
Cassidy also encourages students to participate in informational interviews with connections in their preferred field. These are interviews to learn more about a prospective career path and make professional connections. She said that these are a great way to find a field of interest and get knowledge of the field.
Jennifer Visinho, a career and internship advisor for the Harrington School of Communication and Media as well as a career education specialist for the Center for Career and Experiential Education (CCEE), also suggested there are many resources available to URI students.
“I provide programming that can consist of workshops, panels, career fairs,” Visinho said, “and I also teach the ITR internship seminar course.”
Visinho helps students create professional brands, improve their interview skills and learn networking and job-search strategies. Students have access to programming including workshops, panels and career fairs.
She encouraged students to use job or internship boards like Indeed, Glassdoor or Handshake, URI’s career board. Visinho also recommended visiting company websites to see if positions are available and actively creating their own internship opportunities.
One of Visinho’s students, Maximilian Platt, a senior communication major at URI, is one such student who created his own internship.
“Anybody can get an internship,” Platt said. “The key to it, in my opinion, is to not constrain yourself to what the University provides you. Use all resources that you have, especially at a time like this where it’s hard to find work. There are people looking for interns, but you will never know that unless you put your feelers out to find that opportunity.”
Platt operates his own start-up technology business and is interning as manager of people operations at RealtyOne Group. He is also currently taking ITR 304.
“[The course] is a good opportunity to create or analyze the structure of your internship or of your position,” he said, “because you’re kind of forced into this structured course that’s prompting you to analyze what you’re doing, and really contemplate it and think about why it matters.”
Both Visinho and Cassidy recommend courses in the ITR and Community Service (CVS) departments for students to take. They said that the courses are not only an opportunity to build resumes but are also an opportunity to contribute to the community and to earn a substantial amount of credits for less money.
Cassidy and Visinho recommend that students use CareerConnect and the Career Clusters tab located on the CCEE webpage.
CareerConnect was launched less than a year ago and has already connected many students with mentors in their future professions. Career Clusters is an alternative resource for URI students to find organized information about the professional aspects of their major.
“There are six career education specialists, and each one of us has created a page for the majors that we specifically work with,” Visinho said. “I provide specific resources that my students are constantly asking for, like what can I do with my major, job and internship search resources and industry-specific job boards.”
Both Little and Luff said that universities need to work to make internships more accessible to students. Little said that many of the internship opportunities her advisor sent her were in other states that she had never lived in, so they were essentially unavailable. Some students also require internships that are paid, as they do not have the means to support themselves without a wage.
While some students may feel like COVID-19 has prevented them from getting internships, Visinho said that it has made internships more accessible for students since distance and location no longer restrict opportunities. She even said that the pandemic may have created more opportunities for students.
“A lot of companies had cuts in their budget and staffing,” she said. “They’re still expected to produce, but yet they are less in quantity. So therefore an intern is that much more desirable, because the student is looking for experience, and the employer needs the help.”
The education industry underwent changes in the past year, while students and faculty alike adjusted. Career building and internship opportunities are still available to those who seek them, however.