Hands-on experience answers questions about the future for local students
By: Audrey Levine
For some college students, the best way to know if they have made the right career choice isn’t by sitting in the classroom or reading a textbook, but rather from the experience gained in an internship.
As members of the South Brunswick High School Class of 2003 prepare to finish college and enter the working world, some are using these experiences to help them make choices about what they want from a future job.
"I would definitely recommend interning," said Scott Charles, a senior at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. "You get a taste of what these jobs are really like, much of which can’t be taught or explained in a classroom setting."
Mr. Charles said he looks at internships as a way to build contacts for the future and get job experience. As a music industry major with a concentration in music technology and production, he took internships as an assistant to audio engineers with two companies, Modern Video Productions and Audio Post Philadelphia, both in Philadelphia.
Through both companies, which he said are commercial production facilities that mostly create ads, Mr. Charles said he prepared for audio sessions, answered phones and even recorded a few projects.
While he said he wouldn’t want the same job in the future, Mr. Charles said the experience was valuable.
"I learned a lot about the audio post and commercial industry," he said. "It was originally an industry I never thought about getting involved in, but that is one of the reasons I chose internships in it. I enjoyed both internships very much, but in the end, realized that the post production industry is not really for me."
Instead, Mr. Charles said he is more interested in producing music or working directly with the artists themselves.
For Steven Rekant, a senior at the University of Virginia, his spring internship will require him to work with an equine veterinarian one day a week. He will spend his time working at farms throughout Virginia, depending on where a veterinarian is needed.
"I don’t yet know if equine medicine will be my field of interest, but I want to know which field of veterinary medicine suits me best, so I’m trying to get experience in many of them," said Mr. Rekant, who is a biology major. "This will be a way to get experience in another field of veterinary medicine."
Unlike Mr. Rekant and Mr. Charles, Danielle Balint, a senior finance major at The College of New Jersey, used her internship as a way to enhance her major.
Ms. Balint held a six-month co-op with the Consumer Products Co., a division of Johnson & Johnson, where she worked on monthly reports and other projects.
"I enjoy it because I like what I do every day," she said "It confirmed that I picked the right major and that I would like to do this for the rest of my life."
A co-op usually lasts six to seven months, rather than just one semester. Ms. Balint’s ran from June to January.
Mr. Charles said he found out about the internships through friends who told him that the companies were hiring. When he was looking for a second internship, he said he applied to a place other than AudioPost Philadelphia, but was not impressed with what it had to offer.
"The interview, while at an impressive facility, was not all that interesting or promising," he said. "The position of intern there was subpar, and they pretty much just take anyone they can get."
Ms. Balint and Mr. Rekant, on the other hand, said they used school programs and administrators to help them find their internships.
"Dr. (Jeff) Shane, (the equine veterinarian), mentioned the position at a health professionals panel put on by career services," Mr. Rekant said. "After the talk, I asked Dr. Shane about the program. Later in the semester, I sent him an e-mail about it."
Ms. Balint, who used TCNJ’s on-campus recruiting to find her co-op, said she has heard about open jobs from other companies who that have seen the Johnson & Johnson company on her résumé and might be interested in hiring her after she graduates.
"Working with a big company like Johnson & Johnson makes my résumé stick out," she said. "I get a lot of calls from various companies to discuss full-time opportunities after I graduate. They assume that if I was good enough to get a job with Johnson & Johnson, then I must be worthy."
All three said that internships are a great chance for students to have the experience of working while still being in school, as well as an opportunity to see if they have chosen the right career path for themselves.
"It has opened up many doors," Ms. Balint said. "Not only do I feel like I am 10 steps ahead of others without corporate experience, but I met some great people."