Internship vs. Job

January 23, 2009 5:06 PM

Please explain to me the difference between an internship and a part-time job?

I'm very lucky to have a 20hr/week job that I both enjoy and is pretty research-oriented and in a field close enough to what I want to do (mathematics, statistics, info systems). I like my job and I don't think there's any reason for me to leave until I graduate in 2 years.

I constantly get emails from my department advertising internship opportunities for a semester or a summer.

Should I pay attention to them? Am I a better candidate for something or other if I had an "internship"?

posted by ttyn to education (12 comments total)

I don't think that there is a noticeable difference between an "internship" and a part time job that prepares you for better employment in your field. If you like where you are at and feel like you are getting good experience out of it, don't worry about how the job is categorized
posted by mjcon at 5:14 PM on January 23

I think internships are probably good for students who don't have the job opportunities to make connections with other people and pick up some real life skills.
posted by All.star at 5:14 PM on January 23

Some differences: internships are often full-time (but for a limited number of months), they are sometimes unpaid, they are often exclusively for students, and they are often part of a structured program exclusively for interns.

But more importantly, internships are often gateways to full-time jobs at the company you interned with upon graduation. They let the employer give you a try, and vice-versa. If you aren't planning to work for the employer that you do now when you graduate, then yes, you should probably be looking at internships at companies where you might be interested in full-time work.
posted by phoenixy at 5:18 PM on January 23

Are you an undergrad or graduate student, and what do you plan to use your degree for?
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:20 PM on January 23

Think of internships as full time jobs for a set length of time. (summer internship)
posted by magikker at 5:32 PM on January 23

An internship has a focus on teaching you something for the duration of your time there, as opposed to a job where you are expected to be on your feet and contribute after a short period of training. Many internships are unpaid because the trade-off is that you are not expected to contribute as much as a regular employee because they are taking the time out to teach you while on the job.

I would take a look at those internships in the emails. They may provide you with more intense training that may better prepare you for a better job after you graduate, in addition to the networking mentioned above.
posted by amethysts at 5:48 PM on January 23

I'm an undergraduate student, I plan on working in either government or higher-ed assisting in some capacity with research and number crunching. Working for a corporation doing market research/analysis would be an option too.

Also, I forgot to mention that during the summer I work for the same department full time.
posted by ttyn at 6:04 PM on January 23

I would have to respectfully disagree with those saying that internships are necessarily full-time: I had an internship that started full time over a summer, and continued on a part-time basis for several months thereafter.

I think a key difference is that an internship is sort of assumed to be aspirational: "Here, we're giving you a shot at this job that you otherwise would not be qualified to do." They're usually very competitive and can be structured in such a way that you're assigned a mentor or are encouraged to attend events / classes to become more familiar with the field. Internships can be paid or unpaid. Sometimes interns are compensated through small stipends or perks (i.e. paid housing, transportation and food, no actual money).

The French have a better word for it, really: interns are "stagiares" who participate in "des stages practique." I think the feeling of stages, and moving upwards through various "stages practiques" captures the spirit of the thing.

In my mind, a part-time job (for a student) implies either something like being a nanny or working in retail- or a "real" job that pays you at market rate, and maybe even gives you benefits. Sounds like you have the latter.

As for your particular situation, your job sounds really good, but an internship might open the door to work somewhere amazing, like Google or [I really know nothing about math or statistics or systems, but insert dream job here]. And it never hurts to have a variety of working experiences on your CV.
posted by charmcityblues at 6:18 PM on January 23

Summer internships are basically 3-month-long interviews, during with time the company gets to know you and decide whether to hire you full time and you do the same to the company. They are also a way to see what life in the 'real world' is like.

Now if you're getting all this from a part-time job, that's great. Basically, an internship is just a structured way for a company to have lots of temporary students ... often, they have some additional programs to expose you to what others are doing in the company, etc. I agree with amethysts about looking at the internship opportunities -- maybe they're no better than your part-time job, but maybe they'll be something exciting.

BTW, your level of employment should also depend on what you're planning to do with your life after graduation. If you want to go to grad school, take research-ish internships and/or summer research programs. If you want to work for a specific company, try to get an internship there. If you want to work in a specific are but don't know the details, get a couple of internships in different places to learn more and search for a place for you. I didn't get a good read on whether what you're currently doing is working for the university or not, but if you're working for the uni in a non-research position, I would strongly urge you to look for alternatives.
posted by bsdfish at 6:25 PM on January 23

In certain fields it's a bit uncommon to take an unpaid internship. Back before the depression I knew kids who had solidly above-average middle-class paychecks as summer interns after sophomore or junior year. Internship programs might cut back on account of the economic failure, but on the other hand they might decide to go for the cheaper labor (even these friends I mention were still cheaper than a real employee would be for their jobs). Engineering is definitely one, CS stuff too - this tends to be more on the technical fields in general.

The internship serves many purposes. It can be an employment teaser, cheap labor, corporate citizenship stuff for PR to point to, a key to grant money, and probably more.

Anyway, if you are looking at technical research work in government or academia the more of a "researcher" and the less "staff," "technician," "support," etc. that you plan to be the more value a "research experience" will have over non-"research experience." This is probably the more important difference, rather than "internship" or "job" depending on exactly what you mean by planning to participate in research. "Research experience" in this context means you're working with people who are going to Publish in The Literature and maybe if you're lucky you get to make enough of a contribution that your name goes on a paper too. (The NSF funds a lot of this and calls them REUs, Research Experience for Undergrads.) This is different from, and in the context of academia and applying to graduate school, usually more "researchy" than the research and development usually done by for-profits, though some usually big-corporation research departments (think cell phone companies and internet backbones) are quite respectable in publishing in journals and going to conferences.

Basically if you are likely to end up applying to grad school right after graduating or within a relatively short time, it's probably something to give some consideration to but if not, or if you're really attached to this, I wouldn't sweat it. The drawback here is that academic or government summer stuff is probably going to be lower pay than for-profit summer stuff.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:38 PM on January 23

maybe if you're lucky you get to make enough of a contribution that your name goes on a paper too.

And to be clear, don't get your hopes up too much. If you're lucky you get your name towards the end which means "I helped." It's not impossible but while an undergrad it's a real hotshot thing to have a paper with your name towards the front which means "It's my paper."
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:44 PM on January 23

I'd say the only important questions are : Would another job closer match your interests? Would another job be more prestigious? Does variety look better on the CV? I'd say unlikely, unlikely, and likely. So most internets are less useful that your current job, but you might find one.

REUs are helpful for getting into graduate school in mathematics, and maybe statistics. So you might take time off if you get accepted for an REU. You can sell the REU as variety on your CV even outside academia.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:01 PM on January 23