When we think of internships, often times we think of young students in their final semesters of college needing real-life work experience in their chosen, desired field. Now, you wouldn’t be completely wrong in your initial summation of the Intern description, but these days the workforce has looked at this position as something more— much more. Long over are the days when the Intern for the company was the internal coffee runner and overall “gopher” of the office. Even though these tasks may still exist in some instances, this has not been the primary duties of an Intern in quite some time. Another antiquated perception of the Intern position is that it is automatically an unpaid position. Many companies have made the conscious effort to pay their Interns due to the changing expectation of the role. The benefits of an internship are not only on behalf of the Intern, but the company who hires them as well.

Let’s look at the great advantages of receiving an Intern position, first. Not only does the Intern get the experience in the line of work in which they are obtaining a degree, but they usually get credit toward said degree, shortening their overall classroom time. The Intern is also getting a firsthand look into at least one (or several, depending on your availability and lengths of your internships) company’s day-to-day operations and culture. It’s like buying clothes and keeping the tags on just in case it’s not a great fit! The best part is that if you have a couple internships under your belt, it reads as previous work experience and not as flighty or unreliable since most internships have an end date. Also, as an Intern, not only do you get to “try on” different organizations, you’re able to see if your chosen career field is really a career you’d like to pursue. Take this opportunity to take the skills and knowledge from the classroom and really try to apply them throughout your internship. Most will find that, although theoretical knowledge and information of topics is helpful for deciding your career, you don’t really know what the job duties entail until you get into the actual application of that field. An internship is a great way to help you explore and decide if this is the right career choice for you.

So, the other side of this relationship has to have some great benefits as well. As the employer, you, too, can take this opportunity and use it to your full advantage. One great way of looking at offering internships is that you receive a somewhat qualified candidate who will be eager to work for the organization and will do it for a slightly lower wage than someone who is truly entry-level. Depending on how the company’s internship works, most use the internship candidate(s) to complete a project. This helps the Intern gain knowledge, but also helps the company complete projects that may not be the most desirable for their regular, full-time employees, but still needs to be done. The internship is a great way to source future well-qualified employees. Not only do you know the candidate meets education requirements, but you know the candidate is familiar with your organization’s day-to-day operations and culture. It can also help your company get noticed. Offering internships regularly can really give your organization a great opportunity for networking around local campuses to find top talent, but also potential clients and customers. A business that has a strong presence in the community and is willing to assist the members of that community, like students, can really generate a multitude of business and creates overall good corporate citizenship.

When people think of internships, they are really viewing it from a student’s point of view, but the employer has some skin in the game, too. The relationship between the employer and Intern is symbiotic, and both parties involved should really take advantage of the opportunity the internship will provide.