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I am going to take on an unpaid internship at my city's half-way house/parole office for a few months. It is not mandatory that I do it for school- I am doing it because I know of a few people retiring next spring/summer and I think it will be beneficial for me to not only get to know people/network, but gain knowledge on the policies/procedures etc,.
I know the PPO retiring in March and plan on applying for her position as soon as it is posted. This specific judicial website says you only need to have an associates to apply (which I have in Criminal Justice and will receive my Bachelors in Human Services in May). Besides the education I have no other job experience in these fields (the past 6 years I have worked at UPS and done daycare on the side). In your personal experience as an employer or employee does the internship at this specific location put me above other applicants even if I have no other work experience in the field?
What i've seen and heard is usually:
College + Experience > Experience (Only) > College (Only)
In my own experience however I worked/volunteered unpaid for 3 years and took this experience to get a lower end paying job. Then I combined the experience and the lower end paying job (both related) to boost myself up to a much more competitive, paid internship. Do whatever you can to get your foot in the door.
Definitely helpful; right now it's going to be hard to get experience fresh out of school so internship is the way to go. At the very least, if it can't get you into that particular program, it should give you at least one good reference in the field.
An old buddy of mine got his social work job by interning with a social service agency. They liked his work, and when they had an opening they offered him a job. An internship is no guarantee of a job, but it gives you some real life exposure, lets you make professional contacts, and gives you the opportunity to display a good work ethic.
I worked for a year as a (low paid) student intern while I was in school doing GIS work for the local BLM office (federal agency - Bureau of Land Management). I would have loved to stay but I couldn't work my way into another position there before my graduation. But now I have a good job as a GIS Specialist with a company that works closely with the BLM. They said they interviewed a dozen people for my job but I think I was a shoe-in.
A friend of mine was a GIS intern with me while I was there. She was able to find a way to stay there after graduation and has worked herself into a sweet permanent position there.
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