Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Internships are the changing room of jobs.

After a tough experience of buying clothes from various stores and having to return some the next the day to all the shops because I did not like the fit when I tried them on at home, I told myself I would always try things on before buying them. When I am shopping, I walk around the store and pick a pile of clothes which I think are nice and will fit me well. I then head into the dressing room and try on the clothes. Sometimes, I find a problem with each and every single one of the clothes; either it is not a right fit or I do not like it as much as I thought I would. Other times, I hit the jackpot. Everything fits perfectly and looks even better than I thought it would. Internships are the clothes we pick while walking around a store hoping they fit well. Sometimes they fit well and show us where our interests lie, other times they are a wrong fit and help us narrow down our career choices. This internship here working with a start-up in the agricultural sector has been a perfect fit. From prior research I thought agribusiness would be a right fit for me and luckily I hit the jackpot. However, like clothes, we do not only like one style, we like to switch it up every once in a while. Though agribusiness is one of my interests which I am passionate about, it is not the only one. I have picked other clothes from the rack such as Marketing, Economics and Supply Chain Management, though I am yet to try them on, I will not brush them aside because I am lucky to have hit the jackpot with my interest in Agribusiness. So to anyone interning or about to start interning:

  1. Do not be disheartened if you do not like your internship as much as you thought you would. Just keep trying, eventually you will find something you like
  2. If you find something you like, Great! But do not let it stop you from trying new things. Who knows? You may like something else more.
  3. Always do research, it will help you narrow down your interests more.
  4. Lastly, when you are an intern maximize your opportunity! Ask questions, do as much as you can because then and only then, will you be able to know if you are truly interested or not.