Internships Should Be A Good Personal Fit
By Angel Canete, Stride Student Advisor
Finding a good internship that works well with your schedule, and also correlates with your chosen career pathway, is not an easy task. And, that is why I’ve chosen to create this blog post. This blog post will hopefully help you match your career pathway, interests, and time schedules to potential internships… to find the perfect option for you!
The very first thing you will want to do is find out what is truly the most appealing to you, in an ideal internship. Don’t worry if you think you might be wishing for more than is possible. The purpose of brainstorming about your ideal internship is to help you pinpoint the essence of your deepest career interests. Understanding what you like, and what each internship opportunity you review has to offer in that aspect, can help you better determine how that internship will suit you. It will also reveal how you actually feel about a potential opportunity. So, take a moment, and think about what an ideal internship would look like for you, personally.
If you find yourself struggling to come up with a creative concept for your ideal internship, it may help to ask yourself a few reflective questions, such as…
- What are a few of my absolute favorite hobbies?
- What skills do people closest to me see as my personal strengths?
- What do I want to major in during and/or after high school?
These three reflective questions can aid you in better understanding your strengths and innate interests, which can further help in narrowing down the best internship opportunities for you. Hobbies help reveal your most current fascinations and passions. Personal strengths reveal areas in which you will naturally excel. And, determining what you might want to major in can show the practical applications you are already considering, for your interests and strengths. Once you’ve figured these questions out, you can then move on to the next steps.
The next things you should consider are time schedules and knowing your own limits. Before you begin looking for internships, you should take a look at your schedule and get a brief understanding of your actual availability, and your own personal energy limits. Taking a look at your current schedule helps you determine whether you have any availability for an internship, or not. When taking into consideration your schedule, you will always want to leave some time for personal activities. Having time to relax is very important, while in high school and as you move into being a working adult. Also, consider whether you are an introvert or extrovert, what times of day you work best, and how many hours of working energy you tend to naturally have available per day.
Finally, you will want to consider career pathways, as you also ponder your internship opportunities. What courses are you currently taking in school? What classes and activities do you enjoy the most? Correlating your career and studies pathway with available internships helps you connect those educational interests to your workforce interests.
Once you have worked through the steps above, you will be ready to review internship opportunities and align yourself with the best options for you, as an individual. Enjoy the journey!
To read more about how online schooling helps students grow, be sure to check out Virtual School Motivates Teen To Become More Responsible.
To learn more about Stride Career Prep’s Student Advisory Council, make sure to visit https://www.k12.com/stride-career-prep/about/student-advisory-council.html
Watch this video from Stride Student Advisor, Daysha Ross, on how to get the most out of your internship…
