Internships are now not just for college students. Yes! Interns are now getting younger than ever. High schoolers are getting internships even earlier than college graduates. The workplace is now crowded with high school students applying for internships before the commencement of their colleges. It is an exciting and exceptional opportunity hitting on the doors of high school students in many countries. The US has already had its workplaces filled with high school interns joining their work.
High school internships are not emerging out of gaining new experience only. It is just that, the students are now more concerned about their future and do not want to waste their dollars in an unintended learning pattern. They want clarity and ambition in their decision towards further learning. They are becoming career oriented now.
A study by Millennial Branding, the world‡s largest marketplace for an internship, was based on determining why high school students are taking a keen interest in internships and what professional careers they wish to try their hands in. Half of 172 high school students have applied for internships to advance their knowledge in professional terms while the other half are getting into internships because of their parent’s pressure and economic status.
The survey examined the employers too. 90% of them believe that high school internships can benefit students in getting admissions in better colleges. Above 80% of employers say that high school interns are competitive in terms of getting full-time jobs and higher salaries.
Owing to the growing interest of high school students and their abilities, companies are now creating more opportunities for these students. Not only companies but many high schools have also started facilitating internships for the students to step towards their bright future.
A guidance counselor, Helaine Marberry at one of the top-ranked high schools in Texas, the School for the Gifted and Talented, experienced all the students and their parents are creating uproar in the school. Parents are just behind getting an opportunity for their children to participate in the internships. Even the students are now aware of the competition that they have to face in the future. They are many high schools where the students leave their classes earlier than time to intern at their chosen firms.
Another guidance counselor at Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School, Mary Harmon, have now understood that students are now after secure and clear future. Internship in high schools is beneficial to them in two ways; either it makes firm in the decision to follow their chosen field, or, opens up an entirely new career opportunity. They are just on the right path at an early stage of their life.
After analyzing the paid and unpaid aspects of internships, the author of “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Earn Little in the Brave New Economy”, Ross Perlin, believes gaining work experience to be the most important lesson of an internship rather than counting the income they get.
While unpaid internships can work as a good experience for the ones who are willing to access them for learning, they can be a social trauma for those seeing internships as a hope for their economic status.
