My opinion about interships. What are their pros and cons?

It is not a secret that students' internships during high school and early in college are becoming more and more popular nowadays. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 50 percent of graduating college students in 2008 had held internships - an increase from 17 percent in 1992*. Moreover, 62.4 of hires coming from an employer's program are still with the company, compared to just 48.1 percent of hires who came with no internship experience whatsoever**. However, despite the fact that statistics shows us obvious advantages of internships, Anya Kamenetz and Jenifer Halperin both have good points that help readers to choose a  way (participate in internship or not) which will be the most appropriate for them. As for me, I think that internships are very useful and valuable experience for those who want to get in the future not only a well-paid job, but also skills of communication with people, and ability to work without getting money.

In my third blog I told about Krasnoyarsk Summer School (KSS). However, I didn't tell that in KSS I worked as a tutor during three weeks in July. My duties were very different. At this job I didn't get any money. But my work was very hard and included different kinds of duties. I had to read a course of lecture, work with my team of students, and do some organizational work. It is worth saying that when I decided to go to the KSS, I led to one goal - get useful and valuable experience in teaching and communication with people from different professions. It wasn't hard for me to realize that at the beginning of my career money wasn't important thing. Now I can say that I have reached my goals.

For this reason, I support arguments of Jenifer Halperin more than arguments of Anya Kamenetz. I agree with Jenifer that participation in unpaid internship shows employers that you are serious about the career and are willing to put in the hard work needed for the reward of a potential job. I also agree that internship is a great way to build resume and portfolio and to get useful experience. Some people can ask me, “What about get participation in internship with getting some money?" My answer is not. In this case people will work for money, but not for experience.

However, the idea of unpaid internships is good in case, according to Anya Kamenetz, "you are rich enough to work without pay to get your foot in the door".  Really, if you haven't any financial support, unpaid internships can be a bad idea. But it is worth saying that I don't see any reason for not participating in internships.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that my internship experience is still poor, so I'm going to continue getting participation in this one until I have fun of it and have financial support. Despite the fact that it has some disadvantages, I believe that it is a great investment to my future. I think that people can achieve success in any activity if their goal is not to get as much money as they can, but to get real pleasure from this activity.

* Are intership Fair to student? P.582.

**2012 Internship and Co-op Survey: Executive Summary