<p>I am a third-year chemical engineering student at a Canadian university. I am immensely interested in gaining industry experience prior to graduating, because I think it is the only way to land a good job (unless you have good contacts) and the only way to understand how the industry works.</p>
<p>I have an offer for a 16-month internship at a good oil and gas company (field and office work). I also have a few very interesting offers for purely research positions at two universities and a research bureau (4 months).</p>
<p>I’m currently leaning towards the internship, because I feel that research isn’t that well regarded in the industry (having completed one research term already, I have first-hand experience of applying and never hearing back). My concerns are the following:</p>
<p>1) Will doing the 16-month internship make me more employable after graduation? While this company has a great record of hiring back interns, do you think that other companies will like candidates with this kind of experience? Could this help with applying into a different industry?</p>
<p>2) Initially, I wanted to get the most diversified experience possible via my internships, but doing a 16-month one will mean that I will only gain experience in one industry. I tried to get positions of a shorter duration, but failed. My other option would be to take one of the research positions and try to get an internship starting in the fall. Do you think that landing fall internships is easier?</p>
<p>3) Has anyone done an internship of 16 months? How was your experience; did you benefit from it?</p>
<p>4) Do you think that delaying graduation for a year is worth it? (I fear that without doing an industry internship I will graduate and then be unemployed)</p>
<p>Thank you for your time and your responses in advance, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>1) Why wouldn’t it? Companies like to see experience, and it all depends on what skills you learn, what experience you specifically gain, and how you sell it. It will always help, but how much it helps depends on the job and what you actually do during your internship.</p>
<p>2) I personally am a bigger fan of getting in-depth experience at one place versus a smattering of experience in a handful of places. I think you get much more out of it, as long as you are still learning things during this time and getting thorough experiences. If you get stuck in a rut where you’re doing the same menial tasks over and over again, then it’s no longer value. But if you keep doing good work and learning new things, then it’s definitely valuable, and could arguable be more valuable than shallow experience in a couple of other things. But it really depends on a lot of different factors.</p>
<p>3) I never did internship programs that have those kinds of deadlines. I worked in the same research lab for three years, and do think it was better than working in one lab for four months and then another lab for four months. But I have no idea what you would be doing at this internship. But I also did other “internships” and had other jobs while I worked in the research lab, so YMMV.</p>
<p>4) Can you only continue this internship if you are an undergraduate? Could you drop down to part-time status so that you aren’t paying as much money in tuition? Have you discussed with them that you were planning on graduating before the internship technically finished? I don’t think delaying graduation for a year is worth it, unless you were planning on graduating in 3 years and you’d be delaying to graduate in 4 years and you have the money to swing it.</p>
<p>Concerning delaying graduation: the job is full-time (I will not be studying at all during that time). Thus, I won’t be paying tuition. And it is paid, so money is not an issue.The only thing I’m ‘losing’ is time out of the regular (non-internship) workforce?</p>
<p>If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t worry about delaying graduation at all, as long as the money from the internship is enough to support you and you will be able to return to school without any issues after the internship is complete.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the title “internship” doesn’t really mean anything. A job is a job, and it sounds like you have a job offer, with some particular stipulations possibly. I don’t think the time you’d “lose” in the workforce is really that significant because, well, you’re sort of in the workforce during this 16 months. You’re getting full-time experience, and as long as you’re getting good experience, related to what you want to do in the future, then it sounds like a great setup. When you do graduate and look for a job, you will have your contacts at this company and you’d have 16 months of full time work experience to put on your resume and talk about during interviews. It may help you get a more competitive job or get a higher starting salary, or something similar. It may also not make much of a difference, but I don’t think the money you would “lose” would be that significant.</p>