Opportunities hide in unexpected internships
It’s important to remember to take chances with any and all internship opportunities. Don’t turn down positions just because it’s not exactly something your studying in classes or in the exact field you wish to eventually be in. This is something I had to realize for myself. I wasted a lot of time not having an internship because I was just waiting on the “perfect” one, even though I didn’t know exactly what my idea of that was. I went to a few interviews, but not nearly as many as I should have because I just didn’t apply after reading descriptions for positions I didn’t think I would like.
I try to tell everyone to apply for internships you really want and those you feel you would be capable of doing well even if it may not be exactly what you might see yourself doing in the future. I realized the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something unexpected when I finally landed my first internship second semester of my junior year. I worked for a magazine on campus in a sales position but I was one of the first interns he selected so I was given more responsibilities to help out with the others, which I enjoyed. My manager also knew I lived far from campus and didn’t have class every day, so he was very relaxed with the days I needed to come in making it super convenient. I quickly realized I didn’t enjoy the work at all but I stuck it out as long as I could and gave 100%. One day I asked my manager if I could take off a day to go to a job interview (because the internship was unpaid) and he told me he knew the GEICO manager and he might have an open position for me. Right there he called his friend at GEICO and arranged an interview for me.
Clearly, I was lucky enough to get the internship at GEICO and it ended up being something I truly enjoyed doing. Every day I am so thankful to my previous manager but proud of myself for sticking it out and still doing the best job I could with the magazine because if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have gotten the great internship at GEICO.
