What They Never Tell You About Internships

While internships can be the single best differentiator for you in achieving job search success, it does come with some attached baggage. Namely, why would you want to work anywhere other than with the company you interned with?

The opportunity often exists to work for the company you interned with after graduation. That is, if you were a good employee. While accepting a position with your intern company can make your job search infinitely easier, it also limits your scope of opportunities to just one company. Would you consider marrying the first and only person you ever dated? Probably not. Yet that is what many students are doing when they go to work for the company they interned with. If the company is everything you ever wanted, if they provide you with opportunities for growth and advancement, if they are the realization of all your hopes and dreams--go for it. But then why are you reading here at this site? Probably because you want to know if there is something better out there.

For most students, the company you intern with is just one of many potential employers you should be considering in your job search. Yet the other employers may wonder why you are choosing not to work for the company you interned with. You need to have a ready answer or you may end up looking like the unwanted leftovers from another company's internship program. If there is an offer to return full-time after graduation, make sure you mention this fact in your correspondence (written, verbal, and during the course of the interview) and why you decided to consider other employers.

The strongest hand to play is when you have an open offer from your intern employer to return as a full-time employee after graduation. Not only will it provide you with an offer in the bank which can only be beaten by better offers, it will also intensify the competition for you as a prospective employee. Use your time wisely while the offer is still open, but do not put off a decision beyond the requested response date.

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