Determining Your Career Goal

Before you decide what type of internship experience you seek, it is important to have a written career goal. This clearly defined career goal will help you determine what type of internship experience will support and help you to achieve this goal. Generally a career goal is based on your skills and interests, career possibilities and job trends.

First, ask yourself these questions:

• What type of work do you see yourself doing?
  
• How do you want to spend your average work day one year from now? Five years from now?
  
• What size company is preferable?
  
• Do you want to work alone or with a group?
  
• Are you interested in working for profit or non-profit businesses or companies?
  
• What are the trends in industries as they relate to your career goals?

When you have the answers to these questions, you will have a written career goal that will state exactly what you would like to do once you graduate and enter the workforce.

Sample Career Goal

To work in the field of Information Technology with possible specialization in web development, programming, and network administration. Finally, based on your career goal, write down what you want to gain from your internship experience and think about how that will help you achieve your goal.

• What types of skills would you like to use or gain?
  
• Are you working with cutting edge technology?
  
• Do you want an experience in a non-profit or profit environment?
  
• What size company do you want to pursue?
  
• Do you want to work with people or independently?
  
  

Sample Internship Goal

To secure an internship in the Information Technology department of a large company that will allow me to utilize my web development skills as well as enhance my programming language skills.

Use the following to prepare your goals.

My Reflection
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My Career Goal(s)
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My Internship Goal(s)
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Matching Goals with Internships

First examine the goals you prepared to see if the skills and interests you are seeking can be met in an internship.

Next, consider the importance of matching yourself and each internship opportunity. Examine what skills, attributes, abilities, and limitations you will bring to an internship which will enable you to attain your goals and be attractive and useful to the organization for which you want to work.

Think about what you have to offer. Even if you have had no formal work experience, you have acquired a number of skills:
Research and writing skills from working on research papers
Management skills from summer jobs
Communication skills from classroom presentations and group projects
Time management and organizational skills from studying and maintaining a busy schedule

These are transferable skills (writing, research, and managing) that you could add to your list of personal offerings. Transferable skills are skills you have acquired while doing any activity in your life - jobs, classes, parenting, projects, hobbies, sports. They are applicable to what you want to do in your next job.

Analyze your every day life for skills you may not have realized you possess. Be careful not to discard skills that appear useless. For example, a friendly attitude is useful in an internship that requires a lot of person-to-person contact (interpersonal skills). Sizing up your personal attributes is an important and necessary assignment. Start listing them and these lists will come in handy in everything from writing a résumé and preparing for interviews to evaluating your experience when you’ve finished the internship.

Examples of transferable skills

• Critical and analytical thinking
  
• Problem solving
  
• Adept at change
  
• Written and oral communication
  
• Interpersonal skills
  
• Time management
  
• Organization
  
• Working independently and as a team member
  
• Customer service
  
• Reliability and trustworthiness
  
• Multitasking
  
• Detail-oriented
  
• Ability to meet deadlines
  
• Dynamic and outgoing
  
• Leadership
  

Career Services Internship Contacts:

Jenelle Linden - 574-520-4436 or jlinden@iusb.edu
Tasha Browning - 574-520-4435 or tbrownin@iusb.edu