internship vs. study abroad (employees, alternative, interviews, work)

[charolastra00]

I went to my college career counselor and he was no help.

I have the opportunity to spend 2 months in Iceland this summer studying sustainable development and alternative energies. This would be a great opportunity since Iceland is really unique in it's use of renewable energies (probably the most progressive in the world.. mostly due to it's size and geothermal energy). On top of that, it would give me more scientific and tangible experience in sustainable development to put an edge on my social sciences background. It's not like I'd be sitting in a classroom in Reykjavik- I'd be doing fieldwork.

On the other hand, I've also been looking for internships with the EPA and other governmental organizations. I've done one internship already (I'm a sophomore) but it was in a completely different field that I've since decided was not for me.

My career counselor told me just to pick the one which I would most enjoy. What I want to know is which would help me most in a future career in sustainable development? I'm hoping to obtain an internship next summer with Chevron or Imerys in their sustainable development/environmental sensitivities departments as normally those are reserved for older students.

In any case, which would you prefer when looking to hire a recent grad- an experiential study abroad program or an internship? Also, even though it's a relatively unnecessarily language, I'd assume I'd reach some level of functionality in Icelandic in the program. On top of my Spanish fluency, would that be something that might be value-added?

[skchi]

I'm not a hiring manager, so I can't say with any certainty what they would prefer. However, I think the actual experience you get is more important than if it's a "study abroad program" or an "internship". Plus, since you're a sophmore, you have another summer to get an internship at the company you want to work for after you graduate.

It sounds like you already know that you'll get some good experience from the study aboard program. You'll have interesting things to put on your resume and talk about in interviews. When you get offered an internship, I'd try to get some information about exactly what you'll be doing and compare it to the study abroad program.

Another aspect that I would look at is just the experience of living and working overseas. From a career prespective, many companies want employees who have global experience and are willing to work globally for them. From a personal prespective, this could be a great opportunity just to live overseas. Are you going to have opportunities to live overseas after you graduate from college? For instance, if your family is here, would you be willing to move overseas for a year or more to work?

If I were in your shoes, I'd do the study abroad program. It looks like a good opportunity to get some real experience and live overseas for a few months. I've been out of college for 5 years, my one regret from college is not doing a study abroad program. I had an internship every summer and got some good experience in industry, but I didn't get to live overseas.

[charolastra00]

Well.. it's not as if I wouldn't get a study abroad opportunity anyway. In fact, I'm spending my entire next year abroad (Mexico in the fall.. though I still have not been accepted to the program so that's more up in the air, and London in the spring) so the only real difference with Iceland is that it would be abroad in a country where I don't speak the language. However, English is practically the de facto 2nd language so that's not so much of a concern. One of my majors is international relations and at my college, part of the major requirement is to spend a full semester abroad- summer programs don't even count. So the Iceland program would just be for the unique experience.

What I'm most concerned about is that my internship last summer was basically worthless. Not only do I no longer want to go into that field but the summer I worked had a huge amount of turn over so no one that I worked with is still there. In fact, my boss told me my internship was ending a month early (with me stuck in a random city for that entire month) the day before she quit and my internship effectively ended. And the number that she gave me no longer works and she does not respond to emails- so basically, for all practical points, it's as if I didn't work there at all without even a letter of reference.

So that's really why I'm concerned. :\

[charolastra00]

Any HR people out there who have an opinion?