One of the items on my personal and professional bucket list is to complete an internship experience! I’m planning to get an internship this summer and, luckily, I have gained beneficial information from various resources at Naz that I believe can help me get an internship and achieve my goal.
I’m a marketing major at Naz, and the marketing field has a variety of different career paths to take. To learn about my options and find out more information on the process of gaining an internship, I contacted the Center For Life’s Work. The CFLW at Naz is an excellent career counseling center for students (and alumni) that’s beneficial to all majors in helping them achieve their career goals. Each student is paired with a career coach who works with their specific department/major. During your first meeting with your career coach, you’ll talk about your goals, and a track to take to achieve them. Those goals can include, internships, job opportunities, grad school, job shadowing, and more; there are so many possibilities. During my first meeting, I was given advice on how to improve my resume to help me achieve my goal of getting an internship.
In addition to providing hands-on assistance, the CFLW has helped me gain knowledge and insight on different online tools and resources to help me with resume building and finding internship opportunities. I was introduced to Handshake at my first meeting with my career coach. Handshake is a great online tool to use to search for part-time and full-time jobs or internships. I am interested in marketing positions in the social media, advertising, and public relations fields and Handshake easily and clearly displays internships that can be filtered by major or field. Students can also save jobs and internships they’re interested in applying to, and make a profile, similar to LinkedIn. Handshake isn’t just a tool for internships: Nazareth also offers career events, such as career fairs and networking opportunities, through Handshake. I was able to attend a networking event held on campus in the fall semester where I met with professionals from various marketing agencies and firms in Rochester. Networking is a great way to build your connections and gain career knowledge and insight. It’s great that Nazareth offers so many different types of networking events for students to attend on campus because you never know which one of your connections can direct you closer to your goals!
Clubs at Nazareth also offer different events in regards to internships. A recent event I attended was through a new club on campus, NABA (National Association of Black Accountants). NABA hosted an internship panel, which was a unique experience, unlike other events I had previously attended. The internship panel was five students from Naz speaking about internships they held, and the positive experiences they had. It was interesting to hear about different opportunities available locally in Rochester, and even in different cities, and it was extremely helpful and interesting to be able to have discussions with my peers at Naz about their unique experiences. The Marketing Club at Naz also has different opportunities to learn about internships. For example, guests from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and Butler/Till, a local communication and media agency, have hosted sessions for the Marketing Club, which allowed students interested in internship positions at those companies to connect and learn more from professionals they could potentially be working with.
Although I wouldn’t have started an internship then, I wish I had used these services and connections more during my freshman year. I suggest you meet with your career coach early on, so you can plan your career goals and discuss future opportunities ahead of time as Nazareth is a place where your career goals will not go unnoticed!