FIU can help students find jobs before graduation

Michelle Marchante/Opinion Director

Internships are one of the most important things on students “Before I Graduate” checklists and it’s not surprising.

Internships are what open the door to career “heavens” for students and is something that can separate a student’s resume from all the others. Our university is completely aware of how important this task is and has made sure to provide multiple different resources students can use during their time here to ensure that they are capable of reeling in an internship by graduation.

According to U.S. news, a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges on the Class of 2014 found that an internship offered students a higher chance of getting a full-time job as a reported 80 percent of employers used internships as a way to recruit future employers.

This is why FIU’s Career Services is the first stop students should make when they begin their internship or job hunt as this department specializes in helping students write their resume, become familiar with the interview process and even provides students a search database called Panther JobLink. Panther JobLink is filled with different opportunities, ranging from internships to jobs in all fields of study, to help make the search easier for them.

Not only does the JobLink let you view all the different employment opportunities that FIU has been able to compile for its students but it also gives you the capabilities to filter your search results for paid, unpaid, field of study, location and even keywords.

Paid internships may sound more appealing to students, as the study reported, 65.4 percent of students from the class of 2014 who had previously undergone a paid internship at a for-profit company received a job offer prior to their graduation compared to the 39.5 percent of students with unpaid internships.

But, paid internships are also more challenging to get.

As the report notes, less students apply for unpaid internships then paid internships, so students shouldn’t take these job offer numbers completely to heart and should apply to any internship they like-whether unpaid or paid- as your goal should be to get the experience.

Besides, internships also give you the opportunity to take a test-drive of your career and give you an inside look into how your desired profession truly works.

Additionally, as livecareer.com reports, entry-level position candidates that were hired with previous internship experience were paid 6.5 times more than those who didn’t have any internships on their resume.

But, as all students are aware, the market for internships are becoming more and more competitive every year. That’s why attending the variety of Internship and Career fairs our school hosts is another activity students should make a point to attend.

Attending these fairs can give you the opportunity to connect with potential employers, ask questions and learn more about your future profession.

Students shouldn’t take any of these resources that our university has provided to us for granted and should look into all the other different career services and events they provide at studentaffairs.fiu.edu.

After all, the world out there is a competitive one and we should use every resource we have to make it easier for ourselves upon graduation.

Image retrieved from Flickr.