Is the an internship the way to go? (employed, credit, applying)

[chikid]

So I graduated in 2008 from a B.A. and have interned. When I graduated from college I held a professional job and have some graduate school experience. My main focus has been looking for salaried entry-level positions, but I think I am going to start redirecting my search with internships.

I feel that my past professional and educational experience makes me an attractive candidate for internships. I also see it as getting my foot in the door to the company. I also see it has potentially evolving to an entry-level position. Being that I am not in school anymore I can be a full-time intern and go beyond the typical summer months. Also since I am living at home with limited expenses I can also afford it.

Has anyone tried this strategy. For people who already have a degree and work experience, instead of applying to entry-level did you start applying to internships? How did that go? How did things end up?

[kattwoman2]

Is that even legal? I know when I was in my undergrad, I received an internship for one of the largest news channels in the U.S. However, they were originally hesitant about hiring me b/c I was graduating in the spring and the internship started in the summer (and it was undergrad only). Luckily, I caught them on a technicality and the school was pretty close with the news channel. Unfortunately, I had to turn them down b/c it wasn't a paying gig and the economy collapsed before I graduated.

[tban]

When I graduated in 2009, I was interested in getting anything. I had little experience so I actually applied for more internships than entry-level positions. I looked at it as a way for the employer to test me out at a lower salary before hiring me full-time at a higher salary.

It took me about a year before I landed a career-related job, which was my internship. Five months later, I was offered a full-time position at a much higher salary. I worked my butt off.

I will say though that it seems to be hard for someone out of school to get an internship since most internships are for students. If the employer is open-minded and you are persuasive or worth it, they'll give anyone an internship.

I don't know if this is true, but from my experience, internships saves money for companies because of the cheaper labor. I'm an engineer and it is much cheaper to have an intern do a lot of the CAD work at a cheaper wage (~$15/hour) than the engineer ($25+/hour). So understand the value of not only the internship to you but the internship to the employer.

[tban]

Originally Posted by kattwoman2

Is that even legal? I know when I was in my undergrad, I received an internship for one of the largest news channels in the U.S. However, they were originally hesitant about hiring me b/c I was graduating in the spring and the internship started in the summer (and it was undergrad only). Luckily, I caught them on a technicality and the school was pretty close with the news channel. Unfortunately, I had to turn them down b/c it wasn't a paying gig and the economy collapsed before I graduated.

If you are looking to get course credit for the internship then I can see where it would be illegal. You can always be employed as a temp. and pretty much do whatever interns do.

[CoolSocks]

I think post-grad internships are good if the person has never had any experience in the field or if they have had work experience, but the internship is in another field they may not be as familiar with. Since you graduated in 2008 and have work experience, why don't you just apply to career positions?

I can understand how you could see an internship position as an opportunity to get your foot in the door with a company. I even worked with interns in their late twenties so you're probably not too old to be an intern. I guess you could apply to whatever you feel comfortable with and what position you think you have a better chance at obtaining.

[chikid]

Tban, did they make it clear from the begining that this internship could turn into a position or did it just happen after five months?

Well here's the thing. What I worked in professionally for a year is not what I want to do career wise. I actually interviewed for an internship this week that I didn't even ask for. I am actually trying to start a career in Market Research. I contacted the company in regards to an entry-level position. They told me that those (there were 2) just got filled up. The HR person saw my resume and contacted me about the internship, in which they asked me to interview for. In the interview I found out that this internship could really turn into a a full-time salaried position after a period time. The company is very open with that.

I think it is illegal if the internship posting says must be in school. I am talking about internships that don't put that requirement in. I am still going to apply for entry-level positions, but I think I will start applying to intern positions as well that I can qualify for. I just want to see if anyone else has tried this strategy.

Also, who wouldn't want someone that they can pay at a low wage, with a degree to carry out a lot of work? It's also a great way to test the waters. I think companies prefer to hire someone into an entry-level position through an internship that they KNOW how this person works instead of a stranger.

[tban]

chikid, I was told that my position could lead into full-time position. It was suppose to be a three month internship but they had to delay the offer because of funding.

You seem to be going about it the right way.