Many university students choose to apply for internships in their junior or senior years. It is a good opportunity to get some work experiences. It is also a good way for them to apply what they’ve learned at school in the workplace. They would have a clearer understanding of what it is like and try to learn new things as the trainees. However, they also have to face many challenges, such as adapting themselves to the fast changing situations; dealing with problems they have never handled before and to strike a balance between school life and work.
Situations and Advices.
“What we learned from school are the important foundations,” Ning-heng Li（李寧珩）, a student intern from the Department of English in National Chengchi University said. “The assignments of the practice class at school can help you when you apply for jobs,” Yuan Hsu（許苑）, a student intern from the Department of Journalism in Shih Hsin University shared. Schools provide many programs to help students develop the skills they need and make them well-prepared for the more competitive job market. With some case studies discussed in class, students would know how to deal with the problems while working. However, students do not think all the courses they take from school are helpful for their careers in the future. “The literature or theory class in school requests deep and close reading, but people are required to make quick decisions and response at the workplace.” Li said. This shows that there exist some differences between the school education and job market, but you can get adapted to the workplace faster if you are well-learned at school.
“You should seize every opportunity to learn, and it is a way to increase your manager’s confidence in you,” Li said. The faith of managers is the key to many factors, such as the treatments or even further opportunities that he or she might offer, these factors will affect your future. “In the course of the internship, you may face many unpredictable conditions but you would get valuable experiences from them. Explore the kind of jobs you like and go for an internship. You might have the chance to what you should head to in the future.
Internship: Another Kind of Learning Opportunity.
Yu-chih Wang（王毓芝）, who has been teaching the course of Introduction to English Teaching（英語教學概論） in Shih Hsin University for nearly nine years, encourages students to take part in the internship. The course offers students the internship to be the English trainee teachers in the junior high schools. “It not only improves students’ teaching skills but also helps them to get some hands-on experiences for teaching. Students can better apply the theories from books to practice by taking an intern work. They can know their shortages when they face troubles during internship. What’s more, the internship certification is beneficial when applying for a teaching position. Therefore, in my opinion, students ought to grasp and cherish the opportunity to work as the interns. By the way, a good time management is also significant to students. Interns should balance between study and internship,” Wang said.
“If you can experience the actual work content in advance, then why not give it a try?” said Kai-cyuan You（游凱全）, a marketing clerk in Fubon（富邦人壽）. He experienced the one-year training in Fubon during his junior year. “I was not satisfied with the situation at that time, so I wanted to do something different. Finally, I got the internship through campus recruitment. I know that studying is the most important thing for students. However, allocating the time properly between school and internship is rather more helpful,” said You. He argued that it is an approach for students to test whether the job suits them or not.
Instead of being a loan or challenge, taking an internship is an opportunity for students. What’s more, it is one of the most direct ways to provide students a different experience, leaving the comfort zone.
Observations of Employers
The Central News Agency (CNA) has offered internship opportunities in cooperation with the Department of Journalism at Shih Hsin University for current students to help them gain some experiences in the news industry. “Once students make up their mind to be interns, they should have the awareness that they will be treated as the real reporters, though their jobs are relatively easier than the seniors,” Guang-ren Luo（羅廣仁）, the director of Domestic News Center at CNA, said. According to Luo, interns are expected to do a thorough research before covering news, and also to look at problems in different angles. “Through the training, we hope that interns may have the abilities to meet the manager’s demands as well as to write the follow-up reports, since these are actual challenges they may face in the future,” Luo added.
On the performance of interns, Wen-jun Wu（吳文俊）, Vice President of The Bauer Group（美商包爾科技）, also a lecturer of Department of Communication Management, Shih Hsin University（世新大學傳播管理系）, made a positive remark. “As a manager, I am amazed that some of our interns apply new methods which they have learned from college onto their assignments,” Wu said. Luo also mentioned that in recent years, interns have been doing great jobs. On the other hand, Wu highlights the importance of time management, pointing out that interns should manage their time properly; otherwise, they may lose chances of learning.
Both Luo and Wu strongly recommend the students with ambitions and abilities to seize the opportunities of being the interns, by which students can not only have knowledge of how the company or industry works, but also gain experiences and build up team work spirit with others.
