Understanding different types of internships

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So you are looking to try an internship. This can be a great way learn about a new career. Before you try one, an important step is to first understand the different types of internships you have available to you.

This is important because there is not a formal structure to these work experiences. They can overlap or relate to each other depending on the opportunity. To help, lets go over the common types.

School related types of internships

Students perform these types of internships to get work experience while they are in school. They are unpaid and often provided along with a class.

Career days

Career days are exciting events at schools, where experts and employers engage with students. They are unpaid and typically span a whole day. During these events speakers share their expertise in a presentation.

Externships

Students generally participate in externships while they are taking a course as a different type of internship. Externships give students real-world experience related to their study area. They often involve job shadowing with a business and are brief and unpaid. They occur at the end of a class.

Mock interviews

Mock interviews are practice interviews for students. Interviews are meetings with employers before you get a job. They are not necessarily an internship, but do provide work related practice to get one in the future. They are great to do before you actually have a real interview.

Capstones

Capstones are similar to externships, except they may or may not include a real business partner or employer in the process. Students do capstones at the end of a course to gain practical experience.

They often involve reviewing a business use case or mock work. The goal is to let a student show what they have learned during the class. This helps a student gain experience and practice. At the end the student gets a grade in the area of study.

Work research or dissertation

Work research is a types of internship that is a mix of an externship and capstone. On these research is done for school credit on a business. Once completed, the business is provided a report or presentation. Further, these experiences are unpaid.

Research projects

Often for college students, these are research opportunities that can provide experience in an industry or field of study. There may also be funding opportunities to perform these studies.

These opportunities can provide work experience and skill development, but also can lead to innovation in an industry that can be used later in a career.

This can then lead to the future potential opportunities to form a business or patent with what has been learned.

Business driven types of internships

Businesses offer these internship types to identify talent to work for them in the future. At the same time, they also provide great experience and opportunity for the intern.

Micro internships

A micro internship is similar to a regular internship, but is often only 10-120 hours in length. They are often paid and the work is generally one type of project.

Interviews

Interviews are again not actual internships but still very important. In order to get a job, you will have to do an interview. As a result, every time you do one, even if you don’t get hired, they are valuable.

Regular types of internships

Regular internships are longer then micro internships. They can be paid or unpaid and will vary in terms of work activities.

Paid types of internships

On paid internships, interns will produce value for the employer during their work period. They will also get value from being able to perform the internship. This can include real skills or perspective on the job, industry or employer itself.

Unpaid types of internships

The company will not pay the intern on unpaid internships. The company expects that the worker will get more value from learning instead of being paid.There are strict laws that employers must follow on this to make sure someone is not taken advantage of.

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships are longer, formal paid work experiences. They are aimed at training someone for a specific job. Employers must assess and report on the skills gained by apprentices. In doing this, they may receive pay for the extra training and some of the worker’s salary.

Entry level jobs

Entry level jobs are for those with limited work experience. Jobs will always be paid, but they will have lower pay than more skilled positions. These opportunities are very important as an entry point to a career.

Residency Work Centers

Residency work centers offer paid entry level jobs for developing workers. These are regular jobs but in a supportive academic and business environment.

They are a newer concept in terms of worker development. Coaches support and direct workers in this model. CyberForward Academy offers a series of different work based programs.

Other types of internships

Certifications

Certifications are an acknowledgment that a student has attained a certain skill. A student generally takes a class or study’s prior to taking a certification test.

Once they take and pass the test they get certified. These are not an internship, but often provide business skills.

Games or simulations

There are realistic games or labs that also offer technical or business experience. These can be similar to internships but are not real. These can also offer a student a great opportunity to learn business skills in a safe environment.

Next Steps

You can learn more about apprenticeships versus internships to continue to see different types of options that may work best for you. Also, you may want to look at measuring your tech proficiency to get a readiness score to see which program best fits.