IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: experience

  • When you know, you know

    Media portrayals of some of the more recognizable jobs in the field of communications are glamorous and invigorating. Unfortunately, if in college you decide to concentrate in Public Relations in hopes of becoming the next Samantha Jones from Sex & the City, or focus on Advertising to be the next employee at Mad Men’s infamous Madison Avenue firm Sterling Cooper, you may be disappointed to find that in reality, these jobs are not so much fun. On top of being aesthetically pleasing and having an interesting and eventful life, you actually have to do a lot of work and you might not have so much free time. As cool and hip as these jobs appear on TV, they are still jobs, and they require you to work hard; bottom line: things aren’t always what they seem.  If this is the case, how are we really supposed to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives?  How are you to decide on what career you want to work towards while you’re in college without having the risk of hating it after graduation when it is too late to change?

    This is where internships come into play and why they are so valuable for college students.  Internships give students real-life experiences in an actual work environment, allowing them that first step when transitioning from the college world to the career world.  They allow students to feel as though they are an actual employee.  Internships can help you sift out what you do and don’t like in a career, and evaluating your experiences as an intern will be useful when trying to find a career that is right for you.

    If the career you are interning for just isn’t doing it for you, chances are you should rethink your plans for the future As valuable as learning from textbooks and lectures about a career is, you won’t really know what that career is like until you try it.  Most internships are able to work with a university and reward students with course credit for their time spent, and this means that companies are not obligated to actually pay students. While some are unpaid, there are also paid internships, but just like with volunteering, they can be rewarding.

    With an internship, you can meet some powerful people and easily get your foot in the door with many potential employers. What company would say “No” to a fresh-minded student who is willing to work for free and actually desires to succeed? And aside from their educational perks, internships are also a great choice because there never seems to be a lack of opportunities in finding an internship.  So what are you waiting for? Get ahead of the game, test the waters with an internship, and find the career that’s perfect for you!

    -LaPuasa, Dillard, Reindhardt

  • Some Unpaid Experience

    As already stated in this week’s blog, internships are becoming more and more common among students in the Communication Studies field at UNCW. Let’s be honest, the job market today is brutal. Everyone needs a little edge that will put him or her above his or her competition. An internship provides students with experience in a field of interest related to Communication Studies. With a number of sub-disciplines such as media production, public relations, and marketing, UNCW’s Communication Studies program offers a wide variety of unpaid, course-credit internships.

    For many students, working for large corporations like MTV and Warner Music would be ideal. But the reality is that any experience is better than none at all. There are several firms and businesses in Wilmington offering internships in almost any sub-discipline of Communication Studies. In an ideal situation, that internship could even turn into a full-time job right out of college. In today’s society, that extra work experience is vital.

    In my experience with internships, I have found that they are very beneficial. After seeing my friends take on internships, I decided I should give it a shot. Although it may seem unusual for an internship, I assisted and shadowed the event coordinator at the Bluewater Grill in Wrightsville Beach for five months. I learned a great deal about event planning and was actually offered the job as the Assistant Event Coordinator after my internship was completed. A job is not always guaranteed after an internship, but the intern is certainly put above other applicants, assuming the intern went above and beyond in tasks and activities. No matter what, the experience is once in a lifetime.

    The Communication Studies department at UNCW strives to find the perfect internship for every interested student. By offering course credit for internships, the department works with students to meet their required hours in the field while serving as a liaison between student and company. The Communication Studies website offers student requirements for an internship, along with how to begin the process.

    The importance of an internship cannot be put into words. The experience gained is unlike any other. From a personal standpoint, I would encourage all students in the Communication Studies field to take on an internship. An internship combines the formal training with actual work experience, opening students’ eyes to the possibilities of a future career.

    – Lacey Inman