An externship is a volunteer position that allows a student to consider a specific career field by shadowing a professional for one to five days. It gives students a chance to experience what the professional world has to offer.
“It can be defined slightly differently at different schools,” said Donna Ratcliffe, director of Career Services, “but ours would be a short-term experience to gain exposure in a career field. For us it’s exposure that they’ll be gaining through shadowing, so we have an externship program, which is probably six years old and we solicit sponsors.”
Sponsors may include parents of Tech students, alumni or locals.
Ratcliffe said externships are a great chance for students to get a small taste of a prospective career.
“It’s a really great experience,” Radcliffe said. “Everybody ho does it loves it, but it’s underutilized. There are incredible opportunities ... that students can gain an insight into if they were to take advantage of it. But we have a lot of opportunities that go unrequested.”
One common misconception about Tech is that it’s strictly an engineering school. Ratcliffe mentioned that there are chances to shadow other professionals such as artists, architects and even zoo workers in the Midwest.
“Well, I think the benefit of doing it isn’t necessarily a resume building thing,” Ratcliffe said, “because it’s only one to five days. You’re only observing and not so much getting your hands dirty or getting involved. But you’re observing and asking questions. To me it’s more of an exploratory device. It helps you explore, ‘Is this the type of job or career that I thought it was? Is this the type of company or organization that I would want to work for?’ And just to gain more insights into what you want to work for.”
Students in all academic levels and majors are encouraged to apply for an externship. In addition to field experience, students gain a reference and possibly a future employer.
The externship program last year offered over 70 businesses according to the Career Services Web site.
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