Undergraduate accounting students should be aware of internships as early as their first semester. Here’s why: accounting is not a spectator sport…you must apply what you’re learning in the classroom and doing so in a work environment, as an intern, is a fantastic chance to do so. Put another way: if your career after college is like the main course at a restaurant, then internships are like the appetizer round; they are smaller bites of experience that can both whet your appetite and help inform what you want to commit to, full-time, after you graduate.
An internship is a bit different from a full-time job because they are:
- Limited in duration (e.g. a summer)
- Intended to provide work experience to students who are learning in that field of study
I talk about internships with students, both in the classroom and in my advising sessions. So I’ve summarized some of the key talking points below in a 3-part video series:
- Why internships are so important for students
- The timeline to apply (this is critical nuance)
- How to navigate the application process
Visit the videos on YouTube to access accompanying links. If you have follow-up questions please email me at bdsouza@saintpeters.edu.