Would you rather mop the floors at McDonald’s for a paycheck in the summertime or intern for free as an assistant marketing manager in a mid-sized ad company? This is the dilemma that college students face when choosing between earning money or gaining career-oriented experience, both throughout the academic year and increasingly during vacation periods.
Internships can be industry specific to fields such as communications or accounting, in contrast to the general-skill occupations of retail, for instance.
This type of employment was of particular interest to Ashleigh Brown, who is a first-year computer science major with a minor in cybersecurity at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University in Pleasantville, N.Y. Prior to entering Pace, she spent two summers working for a summer camp that she said helped her earn money in preparation for the start of the academic year. She plans to return unless an opportunity to intern arises.
“I like earning money from jobs, but internships pertain specifically to my major,” Brown said, expressing that she hopes to learn more about her major and the opportunities that she can have in the field.
Brown admits, however, that major and minor specificity isn’t the only thing she considers when taking a position, as her interests also influence her decision. “When I was looking for a job over the summer of 2016, I was mainly looking for a job to work with kids because I really like kids. I went on indeed.com to look for jobs babysitting or summer camps,” she said, emphasizing the fact that they paid well as a bonus.
As for the summer of 2018, Brown has several options in store for her including an internship offered to her by the Dean of Seidenberg at Pace University, a summer camp job, and another potential internship. Between these, she believes the Seidenberg internship is “right up [her] alley,” giggling when considering the experience, working with projects in computer science and traveling to the city, all for pay.
The distinction between internships and jobs is frequently misunderstood. An explanation offered by the Chegg service Interships.com states that internships “must include a specific learning objective.” This allows this type of employment the flexibility to be paid, unpaid, for credit, or not for credit as the student seeking it consciously seeks “on-the-job experience” to expand on knowledge gained in the classroom.
The consensus among college students seems to be that internships are more beneficial for long-term career goals than jobs, though there are benefits and drawbacks to both.
Brandon Diaz, a third-year accounting major at Monroe College in Bronx, N.Y., suggests getting an internship will look better on his resume, especially since he will be graduating soon.
Despite never having an internship before, Diaz believes both jobs and internships can be beneficial, saying, “The only difference that I see is that for one, you get paid, and for the other, you don’t.” Acknowledging the fact that some internships pay, though most do not, he believes the experience gained from interning or working is valuable regardless.
Diaz is currently employed as a stylist at Express, a retail clothing store in Times Square. When considering a job, he notes that the way the company manages people, treatment of the employees and sometimes pay factor into his decision.
For the summer he will remain in retail and hopes to acquire an internship upon returning to school in the fall with the help of his advisors, as he believes it will help advance his career, joking, “You might find a job at McDonald’s but to graduate and get considered for other jobs you need an internship in your field. You can’t get an internship at McDonald’s.”
