Last month I was delighted to be invited to speak at Melbourne Business School on a careers related topic, which was around preparation to secure an Internship. As a career coach I enjoy being around such dynamic and inspirational people, who have invested a lot of money and time, as well as making personal sacrifices to develop their careers and work towards achieving their goals.
As a part of the masters programs, students are encouraged to secure a paid Internship. However as we discussed the topic it started to become clear that perhaps the word Internship is not ‘commercially viable’ these days for those at post graduate study level. Often when companies and HR think of ‘Internships’ it is undergraduates who come in for 1 day a week and work gratis. They generally don’t bring any relevant work experience, require a fair amount of training and managing, and the process is coordinated through the university.
As a post graduate or Masters Student seeking an Internship it can be challenging, particularly as you are looking to be paid for your time and expertise, which is not traditionally associated by employers with the term Intern. Even though more often than not you bring related work skills and experiences with you to justify the fee this is not always valued by prospective employers.
At the end of the session we discussed that perhaps there is a need to rebrand or repackage what an internship means at a masters level, for as you delve into it, essentially it’s a short term contract you are seeking. Rebranding or repacking it may make masters ‘Interns’ more desirable to employers as ‘contractors’ are on fixed term contracts, bring proven skills and experience, and are paid for their time.
What are your thoughts on the subject of Internships and the need to re-package or update the term to be more relevant for master’s or post graduate students?
Does pitching yourself as a contractor make more sense? Will it or has it increased your odds?