Internship vs Job: What’s the Best Move for College Students?
- Laura Amigone
- Apr 29
- 3 min read
If I had a magic wand, I would eliminate the word "internship." Why?
Because of the amount of stress it causes college students, the arguments it starts between college students and parents, and the fear that students and parents share if an internship is not secured before graduation.
Even as early as high school, parents (not so much students) are on the lookout for internship opportunities (which rarely exist for high school students).
In this post, I'm gonna share my opinion on internships vs jobs and how you can find one that best suits your interests.
What Is an Internship, Really?
From Indeed:
"An internship is a fixed period of hands-on work experience commonly given to students or young people."
From Wikipedia:
"An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. They are typically undertaken by students and graduates looking to gain relevant skills and experience in a particular field."
All of this sounds like a part-time job to me!
The key is usually that it is a way to check out if this is a type of work or an industry to which the college student would like to gain exposure, which actually is just up to the college student to decide, and can be the focus of a part-time job.
The Problem with Internship Hype
Unfortunately, there's a lot of hype around these experiences being at a well-known company which sounds good to everyone, but the reality is that there aren't many of these internships available, they're hard to get, deadlines were back in October (whoops), and they may not pay much or allow for any kind of flexibility with family schedules.
What Parents Want vs. What Students Do
Parents are usually nudging or nagging their college students to apply for internships, and with good reason! They want their student to have a plan in place for summer before they get home in May, and preferably one that helps them in their future job search.
But here's what usually happens:
The Typical Student Internship Search Pattern
Students will agree to "look for internships", but then they will only send out a few applications, and then around April or May, rationalize that the default summer job from last year makes the most sense anyway.
And by sense I mean:
They can make money
It's easy to get
There's not much responsibility,
Oh, and it's fun (personal experience and client experiences here).
If this is your college student, good news!
There's a middle ground!
Internship vs Job: Which One Makes More Sense for You?
Apply for internships that are really targeted to your interests (instead of months of casting a wide net just to be able to say you have an internship!), even if this is the approach for next summer.
Look for part-time jobs that are somewhat related to a field you are somewhat interested in, or through which you can acquire useful new skills, which may take some legwork to get.
Work last summer's job, AND line up some interesting volunteer work or outline some side gigs you could get going.
Focus on Skills, Not Titles
The main goal of the summer should be to get some exposure to potential areas of future work and to acquire new skills.
At the very least, if everyone was just using the word "job", there would be a whole lot less comparing and despairing, or judging, and a lot more focus on the skills that can be acquired, instead of names on a resume, which actually will pay off when the search for the post-grad job gets underway!
"At the end of the day, skills get you hired, brand names don't always."
But that's just my opinion!
Have a Rudderless College Student?
As always, if you have a "rudderless" college student who is not willing to engage on future professional ideas or steps, especially for the summer, let's talk, and I can give you some suggestions for how to help them get going.
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