It is now October, and maybe you have been thinking about what to do in the spring. Maybe you are a senior this semester, and wondering what an internship experience would be like, or more importantly: what it would do for your resume. In the past few weeks, a few students who completed internships successfully responded to my queries.  Below are two California University of Pennsylvania former interns.

Sabrina Flynn—Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh, Pa.

“This past spring semester, I was a Marketing Intern for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and this current semester I am a Human Resources Extern at UPMC [a major Pittsburgh hospital]. I have had great experiences working both of these internships and I’ve learned a lot of great skills that will definitely help me transition into my career.

   A tip I would provide some prospective interns would be to always show initiative to your employer. As an intern, you should always be willing to learn new skills and be cross-trained in different areas or departments of the business you are working in.

   When I was interning with the Pittsburgh Steelers, I also had a work-study position on campus. Some advice I would offer for students interning while also working part-time would be to learn how to effectively manage your time.

     It is possible to balance schoolwork, interning, and a part-time job if you can effectively manage your time, and have a work-life balance as well.”

Michael Warner—Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Washington, D.C.

     “I interned for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the company who owns the Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics, the Verizon Center, Kettler Iceplex and Eagle Bank Arena, and I was a Senior Sales and Service Intern for the Washington Mystics.

     Working in the Verizon Center was a dream.  Only living a half-hour from Washington D.C. my whole life, I would go to as many Caps games and Wizards games as possible, so saying my office was the Verizon Center was awesome.  There were many perks of working at the Verizon Center and Monumental Sports.  I got a lot of free tickets to concerts that were playing in the Verizon Center, being around professional athletes on game days or season ticket member events was really cool, the Verizon Center was in downtown D.C., so lunch breaks were usually everyone’s favorite time of the day because of all the food trucks would line up outside the Verizon Center and various options were at your fingertips.  I enjoyed everything that D.C. has to offer, the monuments at night are amazing.”

Zachary Filtz—California Focus. California Borough, Pa.

    “This past summer, I performed a 3-credit Reporting internship for the California borough’s free paper, the California Focus. I did not want to just work some near-minimum wage job somewhere and get very bored after a week, like a number of us students have in the past.

    As a commuter student who  does not live far from campus, I figured I would give it a try. It was about 9-13 hour per week commitment, followed by a 2-page weekly summary essay to my internship adviser.

   My responsibilities included reporting on the required issues, which were written down or occasionally emailed from my editor. I was the only intern for the paper, as it is a monthly publication which is very local—Cal, Brownsville, Fredericktown, and the like.

   My editor and I agreed on a monthly feature for the internship—“What was your first job?” It proved to be an effective one, as everyone has to start somewhere in the workforce.

     As a journalism student, I am used to multitasking projects and assignments at one time. Time management had no issue with me, and most of the sources I called got back to me within 24 hours. I also branched out a little, by expanding my audience.

    I look forward to reporting for a larger publication someday, and will use the many interviewing skills I learned there to move forward.”