At a non-tech school like USC Upstate, sometimes, in the fog of theories, papers, and exams, we lose sight of the demands of the real world careers we’re headed for. You might think a good approach is to cross that bridge when you get to it and keep your head down and stay focused on academics for now. But, read on, and you might think differently.
One of the best ways to prep for your career job while still in school is an internship. I asked communications professor, Dr. Wren Bareiss, to talk about some specific benefits. He said, “Often, on any job description that you look at, experience is required. . . If you have experience, you’ll be better placed than someone who doesn’t. You have more of an advantage.”
Reason two: networking. Getting into the workplace while in college puts you in contact with people in your field that can help you when you later look for and land a job.
Thirdly, internships boost resumes. An internship can make a big difference on the often thin resume of a recent college grad. Lastly, Dr. Bareiss, says some students decide the career they thought was for them isn’t actually a good fit after getting experience on the job.
There’s some solid data backing the benefits of internships too. According to the Internship webpage on Upstate’s Spartan Hub website, “A study of 2017 by the University of South Carolina found students who complete an internship earn on average $7441 more each year after graduation.” Plus, the same webpage cites the (NACE) 2018 Internship & Co-op Survey Report, which found that 59% of employers offer full-time jobs to interns.
Thanks to a grant from the Mellon Foundation, humanities majors can be paid up to $5000 for completing an internship program if they meet certain criteria. Students need to have a GPA of 2.75 or higher and be at least a sophomore. When integrated into your course of study, an approved paid internship can also count as 3 credit hours on your transcript. Internships usually require about 11 hours on the job per week, or 135 hours over a semester—that means a generous $37/hour if you’re awarded funds from the Mellon grant.
Aaron Ashley, a senior at Upstate, took advantage of this opportunity and has been interning at the non-profit Ten at the Top since early September. He’s majoring in communications with a concentration in mass media and a minor in public relations. He’s passionate about motorsports and started his studies with the dream of being a motorsports journalist. His career goal has changed slightly, though, as he’s learned his strengths and weaknesses and about the opportunities in the communications field.
Now he wants to land a job in communications after graduation, but it won’t necessarily be motorsports related. I met with him Wednesday to talk about his experience as an intern.
Aaron explained that Ten at the Top is a non-profit organization that focuses on helping businesses, organizations, and municipalities make life better in the ten counties located in the top left corner on the South Carolina map. He explained a few specific ways Ten at the Top is making a difference. The Elevate Upstate initiative, which is made possible by a grant through Hughes Investments, will provide three different local organizations or governments a $5000 award to use for a community vibrancy project. “We have several applicants from all across the upstate. . .They have everything from mural projects they want to do downtown to art projects within schools” he said. Another initiative is the Resilient Upstate Behavioral Health Collaborative. Created in partnership with the SC Department of Rural Health and SC Department of Public Health, Aaron described it as “a free online toolkit to help employers support the mental health needs and the behavioral health needs of their employees.”
As for Aaron’s specific role, his official title is Community Engagement Intern. I asked him to give me a picture of what a typical day on the job looked like. On Wednesdays he goes to the office at 8:30 am, and works on things like press releases, newsletters, and logos. Then there’s a staff meeting at 10:00. In those, the team will plan out social media posts across their different platforms and discuss upcoming events. This week will be a particularly busy one for Aaron, he says he’ll have worked about 15 hours across three different days. Tuesday, he attended a meeting with Hughes Investments about the finalists for the Elevate Upstate grants. Then he worked Wednesday morning from 8:30-12:00, and he’ll be working at an Upstate Downtown Academy event on Thursday.
Aaron said the opportunity to meet people and network is one of the major benefits he’s gotten out of the internship.
“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of different people in a lot of different career fields. And they remember you. Most people that are good professionals, when you shake their hand and you look them in the eye, which is important, they’ll remember who you are.”
The Upstate Downtown Academy is one of the events where there’s an opportunity to make new connections. It involves a tour of the smaller downtowns in the upstate. The tour highlights how cities have made improvements to attract tourism in recent years. Aaron said he’s already met several mayors and many city representatives through these events, and he’ll have the chance to have dinner with Landrum’s mayor and city council members this week.
Aaron said the other big thing he’s gotten out of his internship is learning what he’s good at and gaining confidence in his abilities:
“When you work an internship, you kind of get a chance to prove yourself. You know it’s one thing to make an A in class and to, you know, study the notes and take a test. But when you hear your supervisor say ‘this is good’ and then you see them publish something you’ve done–it really upped my confidence a lot that, hey! maybe I can do something like this, and maybe I can actually be good in a communications career when I graduate.”
As far as the drawbacks of his internship, Aaron didn’t have much negative to say. He said some days can be particularly long—the days when he has to be at the internship and at classes, and there’s a lot of commuting involved. But it’s not a major issue for him. He also said there were a few days in the beginning when he ran out of intern assignments and got a little bored at the office. But, that doesn’t happen anymore. He’s been given some of the responsibilities of an employee that recently left the organization, so he stays busy. Overall, “It’s been a really good experience,” he said. “I probably couldn’t have landed a better spot. They’re super kind, and they believe in me, and they want to give me more work to do. So I’m very grateful for them.”
Aaron thinks the paid internship program is definitely an opportunity other students should go for. He said the funding is especially useful in the case of a non-profit like Ten at the Top, because they may not have a budget to otherwise pay interns. But funding or no-funding, he stressed how valuable the practical experience of interning is:
“An internship gives you a chance to take a chance on yourself. It gives you a chance to prove your knowledge. . . .For students, take every learning opportunity you have while you’re still a student, because when you’re not a student anymore, they’re going to expect you to be able to do it perfectly, and you’re not necessarily going to have anything to fall back on.”
November 1st is the deadline to apply for funding. Dr. Bareiss said you can still apply after the 1st, but priority consideration goes to those who apply before the deadline. There’s a short application form that you can fill out here.
After you’ve applied for funding, it’s a good idea to talk with your academic advisor to fit the internship in with your program of study. To locate a specific internship, Dr. Bareiss has a list of about 50 active ones that students can choose from. He said students can also find internships outside of this list, but they’ll need to make sure they meet certain criteria to get funding and credit.
He also noted that a student who isn’t eligible for Mellon grant funding can still complete an internship for course credit. Students have more options for a non-funded internship. Based on your needs you might choose only a 1 credit internship as opposed to a 3 credit. To get in touch with Dr. Bareiss, you can email him at bareiss@uscupstate.edu.
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