I started interning in my freshman year after 2000, but I didn't expect to find a job | internship | in my freshman year
As summer vacation approaches its end, many college students leave their internship positions and return to campus.
It is customary for college students majoring in journalism to intern at various newspapers during the summer vacation. This year is a bit different, as two freshman students have just turned 19 in the department. Colleagues exclaimed, did they come out for an internship right after their freshman year? So early! Recalling back then, most people, at their age, were still playing with mud on campus.
Internship during freshman year is not uncommon among the post-00s generation. The start time of internships for college students has shown a clear trend of being pre arranged. According to the 2022 Shanghai College Student Internship Practice Survey, over 40% of college students in Shanghai choose to start internships in lower grades.
More and more college students are considering internships as the best way to increase their workplace experience and hope to obtain the key to their ideal job. However, "roll up" internships are not omnipotent, and blindly following the crowd is not advisable. Instead of blindly interning, it's better to first find a direction of interest, have a targeted approach, and calmly achieve self-improvement.
Graduates will have job negotiations at the 2023 Shanghai College Graduates Employment Internship Recruitment Fair. Photo by Lai Xinlin
The pressure of peer competition
How hot is internship for college students this summer? In late July, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province launched the 2023 summer internship program for college students in government agencies and institutions, providing 1222 internship positions. Within a week of starting registration, more than 6000 resumes were received, and the application ratio for some popular positions was as high as 44:1.
After completing her previous internship, sophomore student Xiaoyu decided to recommend the position to other students in need, so she posted a message in a WeChat group at school. Unexpectedly, within a minute of the news being released, more than ten people applied to add her as a WeChat friend. After verification, Xiaoyu found that these people had classmates at the same level as well as freshmen.
Many students choose internships because they don't want to fall behind. Internship is a necessary task. At the university where freshman student Xiao Ge studied, internship work experience was included in the student's teaching plan and counted as credits. This means that only by finding an internship position can one successfully obtain a graduation certificate after a few years.
Peer competition has brought tremendous pressure. For today's post-2000s, living in the era of the internet, the concept of "peers" has long exceeded the scope of classmates and friends around them. Excellent peers are constantly emerging on social platforms, which further exacerbates this anxiety. For example, in the advertising department where Xiaoge works, the atmosphere of "rolling" internships is particularly strong, and experience posts such as "obtaining four internships in freshman year" are flying everywhere on social media platforms. "When I come across this kind of post, I unconsciously feel anxious," said Xiaoge. "Everyone is interning, and one less internship means one less competitiveness in future job seeking. No one is willing to fall behind others."
Xiao Li, a business student, is also one of the students who were "caught up" in the competition. In his original plan, it was not too late for him to look for internships in his junior year. Later, he frequently browsed internship experience posts from his peers, saying, "They may all become competitors for my job search in the future, and every post is reminding me that if I don't intern again, it won't be too late.". At the beginning of his sophomore year, Xiao Li kept an eye on several big Internet factories, looked for opportunities everywhere, and successfully got the internship employment notice. He has transformed his identity and become one of the "sources" of anxiety. Since November last year, he has been running a self media account, sharing internship experience, and has accumulated nearly 14000 fans. In his top content, keywords such as 19 years old, sophomore year, zero experience, entering a large factory, and 5 internships are all traffic passwords for current social media platforms. This post has received nearly 10000 likes and collections. More than 100 netizens are seeking advice in the comment section: How to achieve it? What do you need to prepare? Can I also
At the job fair, job seekers are learning about the information of the recruiting company. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Ying
Blind internship is not advisable
Internship does not necessarily mean having a good job. When younger college students intern, most of them are under 20 years old, and many students quickly feel the conflict between their student identity and social positions.
At the beginning, it was not easy for college students to find internship positions because they lacked experience and their resumes were almost blank. They had to adopt a sea investment strategy - Xiaoge's roommate in the same major registered and applied on four or five job application software, submitted hundreds of resumes to various employers, only received three interview notices, and ultimately did not find a job; Each job application account has a limit on the number of resumes that can be submitted. Therefore, Xiaoli opened multiple accounts and submitted over 3000 resumes in total.
In addition, there may be discrepancies between the content learned in the classroom and the actual work requirements. Xiaoge's job involves graphic design, and her unique design style is encouraged in the classroom because it does not conform to market aesthetics. The design draft was requested to be revised and redone by the internship company. Her intern at a media agency said that it is difficult to apply the skills of writing, writing, and commenting learned in the classroom, and the work progress is often stuck in the stage of not being able to find interviewees, which further tests her experience and way of dealing with people.
Xiaoge often feels that the workplace is not friendly to her, and sometimes she falls into self doubt. The tasks assigned to her are mostly running errands, printing, and even handling express delivery and ordering takeout. Some of her classmates interned in the TV program group and could only do trivial tasks such as setting up venues, purchasing materials, and communicating with artists; Someone interned at a grassroots court, starting from delivering documents and cleaning, and only got involved in document communication work two months later.
The interns introduced that during internships in their freshman and sophomore years, they generally do not have access to the core job responsibilities of their positions and rarely receive professional skills improvement. At the same time, the first two years of college are a period of more course arrangements in the four years, but internships generally require "at least 3 days per week"... Similar practices are not worth the cost. A friend of a headhunting company told reporters, "Many fresh graduates have good resumes, and they complete seven or eight or even more internships in a few years. However, some employers will specifically avoid these graduates, especially in science and engineering majors, which require high basic knowledge and applied technology. Students who have had too many internships may lack sedimentation and may lack motivation." In addition, employers are also concerned that students who enter the workplace as interns too early may consume too much curiosity and novelty in their careers, and may quickly enter the workforce. "Burnout period.
The campus job fair has launched a "employment recruitment+internship" mode, where job seekers and recruiters communicate. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Ying
Make a choice that suits oneself
Some people also make different choices. Xiao Gu is studying computer related majors. This summer, he participated in the school's teaching support activities and made it clear that he had no plans to intern during his university years. "Even if you keep burying yourself in learning, the skills and knowledge you learn may still not be able to handle the job after entering the workforce. How can you have the energy to intern?"
There are also some students whose internship career is not related to their future employment, but their greater motivation is to earn money. Xiao Huang is majoring in animation and has extensive experience in art exams. Recently, he has been working as a teacher in an art studio, tutoring children in drawing; Yunchen studied education at a teacher training college and found a job as an English teaching assistant in an educational institution during the summer vacation. "By exchanging work for compensation, rather than reaching out to the family for money, it's more 'relaxed' when it comes to spending," said Xiao Huang.
"Internship is very important, but not to get a good resume." Career planner Xiaoyuan said that she does not recommend students to "roll up" just to "roll up". First, they need to form a clear understanding of their personality traits, interests, and hobbies, and then understand the workplace atmosphere and social environment, in order to explore their interests, talents, and future career directions. If one can complete early trial and error and self exploration during an internship, it is truly valuable.
"Early internships are not suitable for everyone." In the case that career planner Renee was exposed to, a student had only graduated 3 months ago and had 2 years of work experience. Because he was purely interested in making money, even in school, he still had a lot of energy focused on work. Some students also want to pursue the path of scientific research, while Reni suggests that they work with their supervisors in the laboratory to accumulate more academic knowledge. There are also students who plan to start working as soon as possible after graduation. For job seekers who position their career development in market application, investment management, and other areas, having a business mindset is easier to stand out. So it's not bad to intern early.
Life is a wilderness rather than a track, and Renee agrees with this statement. She encourages students to intern and also encourages them to participate in club activities, social practices, or travel. "Don't just lie at home," Renee said. "College students will eventually enter society, and everyone should learn to be prepared, try as much as possible, and give themselves more possibilities."
