There are many good reasons to do an internship as a graduate student:
Finding a place to intern, like any process of matching talent and resources with opportunity, is a blend of marketing and networking. From a marketing standpoint, you need to discover what people and organizations are working on, the problems they are trying to solve, and how you can help them solve those problems. From a networking standpoint, you need to identify the specific people who are involved with those problems and find opportunities to meet with and talk to them about the problems they are trying to solve, or what they are trying to make happen.
You will be chosen to be an intern for the same reason you will be hired for a position--because you make it possible for that organization to do something critically important that it cannot do right now. That may mean solving a problem, providing the critical talent needed to capitalize on an opportunity, or rounding out an important team.
Your expertise and experience alone will not get you hired. The fact that you have that expertise and experience and, as a result of that, can make a difference to the goals and outcomes of the organization is what will get you hired.
Below are the three types of internships you can do through the Professional Development and Community Engagement program.
Typically these are internships with corporate, business, non-profit, or public organizations. In a professional internship, you will typically use skills and capabilities that you have gained through your work as a graduate student or through professional experience, or through some combination of both. Though it may not seem obvious, your graduate training in and of itself provides very valuable skills. First, the content of what you are studying is valuable. You may be able to intern in an organization the needs the content expertise you have acquired. This would include expertise specific to your disciplinary knowledge (e.g., computer science, engineering, design). Second, there is the methodological expertise you have acquired in the course of your graduate work (e.g., program evaluation, survey methods, ethnography, statistical expertise).
These internships are designed to give you an opportunity to explore the possibilities in working with youth in the K-12 setting. These internships may or may not include direct teaching experience or contact with youth. You might develop curriculum, plan lessons, or even work on organizational issues in the setting in which you are working. As with Professional Internships, both your content expertise and methodological expertise may be brought to bear in this context.
PFF Internships are designed to give you experience with the work of being a faculty member. You can use this internship to get experience developing curriculum and/or teaching in classes that are different from the classes you teach, or assist with in graduate school . You can also use a PFF Internship to gain teaching experience if you do not have the opportunity to teach while you are graduate student. PFF Internships also provide an excellent opportunity to explore what it means to be a faculty member at different types of institutions or in different departments or programs than at the institution you attend. Another key feature of the PFF Internship is that it gives you the opportunity be mentored by a faculty member.
There are many ways to define mentorship. The most important characteristics of an effective mentor are that they have knowledge and experience relevant and useful to your own professional development and they are willing to spend the time to work with you. They will be invested enough to want you to succeed, and to be willing to help you succeed. It is essential, therefore, that you actively seek out people in the organization, or those working on a project with you, and convey to them that you are seeking mentoring opportunities from individuals who are capable and willing to share their knowledge and wisdom.
It may be that you find one mentor who works with you on a number of issues. It may also be that you find different mentors to offer guidance on a range of areas of concern to you. A mentor may or may not become a friend or colleague. It's important to remember that a mentoring relationship is reciprocal--if it works well, your mentor will gain from the relationship as well.
As an intern you are in a unique position because you are both an employee and a student. This gives you flexibility to try things out and to get experience with a range of projects.
Volunteer to be on projects that will stretch your capabilities or "force" you to develop new capabilities. Put differently, take some risks and try out new projects that you might not otherwise try as a graduate student or once you are employed. This is not to say that you should be reckless or take on projects that you know you cannot handle. However, because you will likely bring a range of skills and experiences to the organization you are interning with, your internship presents an opportunity for the organization to try new projects or to develop new ideas that they either haven't had the person-power or know-how to do.
You may very well be in a position to develop your own new projects in collaboration with the people in your host organization. Some of the best projects might arise in situations in which you are doing something new and, in the process, can help the organization break new ground.
Keep a journal of your internship experiences:
Whether you make entries on a daily or weekly basis, keep a regular record of your internship experiences. If there are categories according to which you will be evaluated and/or upon which you will have to report, structure your journal entries according to these categories. That way, when it comes time to generate your reports, you will have already pulled the material together.
To get the most out of your internship, you have to actively think about what you are learning, where you are being challenged, and how you are developing and changing as a result of those challenges. Make sure you take the time to stop and write about these experiences, including thinking about the connection between the internship and your academic/professional life.
If done right, an internship will improve your academic work by helping you see the relevance of what you are studying, by helping you find "real world" applications, or even as a balance to the often solitary, esoteric nature of academic work. Particularly if you are in a discipline that seems esoteric or "ivory tower," internship experience can help you find the tangible ways to demonstrate the value of what you study in practical terms. This is not to say that scholarship and research are valuable only if they can demonstrate a practical element. But, many disciplines have social and practical relevancy that are not effectively articulated or developed.
Being able to articulate the relationship between your internship and your academic work will make it that much easier for you to "sell" your internship to your academic advisors if they do not already see the value of an internship. It will help your advisor perceive the value of the internship to your development as a scholar and researcher. It might also make them that much more likely to support other students who want to do internships.
Stay in touch with the people you met and worked with during your internship:
In the overall scheme of your personal and professional development, the two most important results that will come out of your internship are (in order of importance):
1) the relationships you establish, and
2) the experience you gain.
The relationships are critical for a number of reasons. One very practical reason is the fact that the vast majority of jobs that open up or opportunities that emerge are never formally announced anywhere. The old adage, "It's not what you know, it's who you know" can actually be revised as "It's not who you know, it's who knows you." Of course, it's all three, but who knows you is critically important. You want these people to immediately think of you when opportunities come up. The more individuals you have "out there" who will think of you when they hear of opportunities, the greater your chances will be of being able to take advantage of them!
The challenge, then, is to stay just enough in people's consciousness that they will think of you -- but not that you contact them so frequently that you become annoying. Of course, the single most important thing you can do to stay favorably on someone's short list of referrals is to do an excellent job as an intern. When someone recommends you, they are putting their own reputation and "social capital" on the line. You are borrowing their brand, if you will. Indeed, if the person to whom they recommend you hasn't heard of you, you are using their brand almost entirely. That brand is valuable, and in an ideal situation, you will improve the value of the other person's brand by making them look good for recommending someone who adds value to everything they do.
This is not to say that you will want to be close to everyone that you worked with in the internship. It is also not to say that you need to be friends with the people you stay in touch with. You can maintain a personal connection without becoming friends. Common professional and intellectual interest provides an excellent basis for maintaining valuable connections.
A really good way to stay in touch, then, is to have a relevant reason to stay in touch. One really relevant reason is that you are still interested in and thinking about the same problems and opportunities that they are. And, you are--aren't you?
