Graduate Internships and Externships
Why an Internship?
For graduate students who have ever considered working outside of academia, an internship is an excellent way to gain credibility among employers. They also offer you the opportunity to discover whether the allure of non-academic work is actual or illusory.
Credibility and Entry to Workforce
* Internships can serve as an entry into the professional world, and where offered, are regarded as especially valuable to both employers and students.
* Employers know that they are getting someone who is familiar with demanding work schedules and who knows how to work independently as necessary. In this regard your skills and potential are more important than your prior work history.
* Internships allow graduate students to get experience and test a field outside the academy.
* An internship will serve you well in rounding out your resume with demonstrated experience in an applied setting.
* If you decide to seek full-time employment in your internship area, employers know you are making an informed, deliberate choice, rather than a last ditch “anything other than academia” leap.
* You will also start your job search with a strong network of contacts and job leads. While never guaranteed, you will be well positioned to be among the inside candidates for any future openings in the specific organization where you interned.
A DecisionTool: Is A Non Academic Career Right For Me?
* Internships can give you a sense of what life is like in the non-profit, private or public sector worlds. By design, most internships contain at least a nominal mentoring component. You can use that framework as a productive context for researching the range of career opportunities within a particular sector or organization.
* Perhaps you will learn that the academic route has more luster than you had come to think.
* Or perhaps your internship will confirm that you will put your degree and yourself to better use outside the academy.
(adapted from UC Santa Cruz)
UMass Amherst graduate level students have interned at organizations such as:
* Aetna
* Google
* Bose
* Boston Urban Mechanics program
* Staples, Corporate
* United Way Worldwide
* Museum of Science
* Symantec Corp.
* Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
* ISO New England
* Proctor & Gamble
* United Nations
* William J. Clinton Foundation
