Those that are young and lack experience in the workforce will probably find an internship to be the perfect introduction to the workforce. And while most agree with the value of internships, they assume that all interns are college age. This is not really accurate because high school internships are quite popular and helpful.
The reason most people do not assume there are high school intern opportunities is because the assumption that the goal of an internship is to land a job. That is partially true. Many people will towards a formal (or informal for that matter) internship program as a means of gaining a job offer. However, there are other valuable phases to landing such a position. Experience is one of the main factors that can be obtained. A high school intern program can provide a solid and reliable basis for acquiring such much needed experience.
What makes high school internships so valuable is that they get the participants on the path to gaining quality experience very early in life. This sets the stage for gaining deeper and insightful understandings of the profession one is seeking to make a living in. Look at it this way: a person with 10 years experience may have more to offer than someone with 5 years experience. (The word "may" is used because there are certainly no absolutes) When a student gains a foothold in a profession during his/her high school years, such a student can have a huge jump on someone that lands an internship in the final semester of college. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with starting out with an internship late in an educational career. However, doing so can have its flaws.
Here is why there may be problems in this regard - in order to be successful in an internship, you need an insight into what is required to succeed with an internship. Any student's first experience with an internship may have its pitfalls. The key to being able to navigate some of the issues associated with being a novice intern entails - as your probably surmised - performing more than one internship. Of course, taking advantage of high school internships would be the first step in this logical process. Remember, experience builds on top of itself and that allows each subsequent high school internship program that the student takes part in to be more potentially successful. As always, starting early aids in making the future endeavors the students seeks more potentially successful.
However, it is vitally important that those looking into high school internships realize that not every internship is valuable. Some are downright not worth it. No student should sign on with an internship that is designed to use the student as free labor. That is not going to help the student at all. No, the internship needs to be one that yields a give and take process. The student should be performing the work and tasks at hand and receive educational and experiential benefits from it. High school internship opportunities that require the performance of mundane tasks without any benefit to the person performing it is not an opportunity. Hence, it would be best to skip such a high school employment internship and look towards one that has much better value and opportunity.
How can you tell what type of high school internship would be the very best one to select? Well, it is not always easy to tell whether the internship is one of quality or not based on a job description but that is all you have to go on when you are applying. So, look towards descriptions of the type of tasks that are required to be performed in the internship. If the internship looks promising based on the description then it may be worth exploring. If what you see is a very ‘dead end' description of tasks you would probably be better served putting effort into a different internship instead.
Personal experience all needs to remain a major factor in the selection of a high school internship. Any student that feels the internship is a poor one and not delivering on promises might be best served leaving the internship and trying something different.
Do you really want to be sure that you select and internship that is a high quality one? Look towards InternshipCrossing.com as it is one of the all-time best sites designed to promote top internships.
