As a new first-year college student here at Baruch College, you get bombarded almost every Tuesday and Thursday by clubs wanting to gain your interest enough that you hope to join them. Yet, there’s always that one section in the gym during club fair or that table on the second floor where people talk to you about internship opportunities- a table which is usually ignored by passing onlookers. Personally, it is something that I am interested in experiencing during my four years at Baruch. But I was still walking around clueless about how exactly I could obtain a internship and the steps that I would have to take to even just apply for one.
On October 5th, my friends and I decided to attend the Starr Career Development Center Internship Seminar at the Newman Vertical Campus, hosted by Michael Kalish. For 90 minutes, he went into very, and I mean VERY detailed information about exactly what an internship is, how they work, and the basic information about them. He also talked about the types of internships that exist, such as a paid internship and a non-paid internship and a zero-credit internship that is actually open to most freshman, something that I was not aware of. Still, Mr.Kalish even specified that no matter what type of internship you do, you have to receive some form of payment, whether it be monetary or in the form of academic credit. He even informed us to be cautious of any companies, which the exception of some non-profit organizations, who may try to take advantage of their interns by giving them meaningless tasks or trying to not pay them in some way for their services. Besides internships, Mr.Kalish even talked about the importance of resumes, which he says could be the deciding factor between you landing an internship/future job, and preparing for interviews. What surprised me to learn towards the end was the fact that Baruch offers tools to help their students and alumni obtain internships or jobs, and that Mr.Kalish’s team at SCDC even helps prepare students with mock interviews and through FOCUS. After attending this seminar, I am more confident in the various aspects of internships and knowledgable about what to do in order to obtain one, even setting a little personal goal for myself of hoping to get at least three internships by the time I graduate.
