In Nate Menninger's latest article "Worth the Squeeze," he discusses a few faults about the conventional obligatory internship hunt that seats thousands of University students in front of their computers this season to delve into the world of searching for work they might not really want to do, to obtain résumés that other people say they will need. He encourages following your passions — investing time into finding what you want to do and figuring out how to do it. The article leaves off on a positive note, instructing students to follow their hearts and not the University adherence-train, but it still leaves the uncreative among us without a viable alternative option.
Unfortunately, most non-Commerce University students have become aware of the inane, compulsory system that is the internship hunt and its failure to aptly broaden our horizons, teaching us useful skills for the real world, or even aiding with some sort of personal development. We come to that realization somewhere between the first day of answering phones in an office all summer and applying for graduation. This leaves us with the question — if you don't want to sell your summer for a line on a résumé, what other option is there? The answer — find a job that makes you a better, more intuitive person, not a better employee. Statistics (somewhere) say that better people eventually get better jobs.
Look beyond the Charlottesville-D.C. internship grid and check out some real world opportunities. Think about your major and answer how to learn about it from your own perspective. Interested in economics? Compare working with a small business versus a corporate giant. Foreign affairs catch your fancy? Teach English abroad! Are you a burgeoning nutritionist? Go work at a food production site. I can guarantee that our professors didn't get their jobs because they were just (really) good at teaching; they had experience and stories. These alternative options to the office internship aren't inferior to office jobs at all; in fact, they will increase your value as a worker and as a person.
In my own experience, I perused the gambit of "voluntourism" options to try in place of the office jobs. I've been working on organic farms in France — I'm learning about grass-root levels of food production, farm pun not intended. For my economics major, I get to see one industry as close-up as possible, while learning about the rights and work of one family struggling to stay afloat in the sea of industry. Maybe some day at an interview I can explain the necessity of understanding how a small self-employed man can factor into a market instead of explaining how I learned to forward a phone call really, really well.
For the sake of keeping our student body of wonderful Hoos innovative, progressive and unique, we need to find these opportunities and acknowledge the extreme inflation of the average internship. Before googling "internships in Charlottesville," go look at voluntourism options such as WWOOF or HelpX. Check out teaching English abroad. Go do your own informational interviews (think: professors, local business owners) and discover what skills are needed to develop your own path. Too many people are being uncreative in their search for the perfect internship, sacrificing the best years to have risky, highly rewarding experiences. Under no burdens of real world commitments and investors in the form of parents, scholarships and a world of student-travel deals, we have no reason to start the banal office internship so soon — but we need to do more than dream about following our dreams to save the world.
Christine Abbott is in the College and will enter her third year in 2015.
Read More
PARTING SHOT: No man is an island
By Ava MacBlane | 2 days agoRetirement, as you can tell, has been treating me well. When people ask me now if I miss it, I laugh and tell them some things I definitely don't miss. But I don't always get to tell them about the things I really do miss.
PARTING SHOT: You never know unless you try
By Lexi Baker | 3 days agoMy time at the University was shaped by the people who showed me grace and kindness and by those who had confidence in me, even when I struggled to have it in myself.
PARTING SHOT: A love letter to Cav Daily and Connection
By Ava Proehl | 3 days agoMy time here taught me to look for the genuine, human connection in every moment.
