<p>Background: I currently work at a job that makes A LOT of money for someone my age. I can pay for tuition in its entirety and all other things. It’s also a part of a company that I would LOVE to work corporate for in the future.</p>
<p>Concerns: I am on track to graduate spring 2015. I’ve only had one internship related to my field, and otherwise I have been doing a few freelance works (studying marketing/PR/advertising, I’ve been doing freelance design for brochures, websites, posters, etc.). Right now my job is, in a way, keeping me back from any internships.</p>
<p>Why? Because it’s not that flexible. To take days off, I’d need PTO. My schedule is unpredictable. Sometimes I’ll work 8 hours a week, sometimes I will be working 40. I have the least seniority so I don’t get to pick what shifts I want and I always get the crappiest, most inconvenient shifts. I’m also on-call, so I have to show up to work if someone else calls out or else they will write it down (I can only refuse a certain number of shifts before I get written up).</p>
<p>I’m still at my job because the money is great and it’s within a company I love. I’m afraid that it’ll be very hard to move up, though, because I’ve heard SO few success stories about moving from the bottom to corporate! </p>
<p>Adults, parents, anyone… input?</p>
<p>Will they consider allowing you 2-3 months leave during the summer for an internship? Because, of course, that is when the internships generally are. If they say absolutely not, perhaps you could start applying for internships, and then only quit when you get one that you consider a great offer. No reason to quit in advance, right?</p>
<p>Never underestimate the power of money. The older I get, the more I realize that.</p>
<p>That said, you’re not miserable at this job. In fact, you rather like it. I don’t see any reason to quit right now. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, it is not a good idea to quit something before you have the next bird in your hand. Not always, but generally.</p>
<p>An internship is a proxy for work experience for most college students. You have the real deal–work experience. No reason to quite a good-paying job providing you with real skills (and presumably strong references) for an internship where you quite possibly do little beyond surf the net and fetch coffee.</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to mention that leave of absences aren’t allowed without a valid reason (like I need to leave to take care of my dying grandmother in a different country valid). And there’s no guarantee my job will be here after the 2-3 month period. </p>
<p>I’d never quit in advance, but I did apply for a few internships and received, so far, two responses back. </p>
<p>@busdriver11: I also have a hard time distinguishing on what is a “great offer” internship-wise. All the responses back thus far are from small local companies. I assume something great would be like a large renowned company? At the same time, I was always told that any internship is a good internship… like any experience is good experience!</p>
<p>But I’m mostly afraid that I’ll be “running out of time” for internship times and graduation will come before I know it!</p>
<p>Yeah, I totally see your point, lullabies. You do have a dilemma. Money is very important, and being able to pay your tuition, plus, is awesome. Then again, it is hard to determine without knowing the details. I don’t know if you’re willing to give them, but I suppose it can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>How much does your job pay, on average? One person’s idea of great may not be the same as anothers. And how would you get the money to pay for tuition otherwise, do you have savings, parental support, or would this be debt? A good paying job may be more worthwhile than a random internship, as far as job prospects go.</p>
<p>As far as distinguishing what a “great offer” is, since I don’t know your field, that is a tough one. I know my sons field (tech), a good offer is something maybe 4K/month or above, great would be 5K/month or above (just guessing, also depends upon the company). Big name or interesting startup would be also great, or experience that is directly relevant, for his field. Do you talk to people in your field at your school?, maybe the professors, career center or other students can help you. I don’t know that any internship is a good internship…my son had an unpaid internship with a major political party and I thought it might actually be a negative on his resume, as people have a hard time controlling personal bias.</p>
<p>I had the same thought as Sop14’s Mom, but want to ask – what are you actually doing in your job? Do you think you’d get more out of an internship? It sounds like you have more responsibility than most interns. Is it all something very menial?</p>
<p>Internships are highly recommended because they are a way to get relevant work experience. If you have relevant work experience, you don’t need to worry about internships. If you want to get the experience in other areas or something and you think an internship would help (seriously, read some job descriptions first), it might be something to think about.</p>
<p>I think it also depends on how much you need the money you make now and how much an internship would pay. If you weren’t paying your tuition, would your parents be able to help you out?</p>
<p>This whole internship thing is entirely overblown. What you need is experience in the field in which you want to work. Unless you’re planning to go into finance, where you will only be hired permanently if you’ve done an internship with the bank the summer prior, it is not necessary to have any sort of internship if you have work experience. And if you don’t believe random strangers on the internet, and no reason you should, go ask at your Career Center.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply guys! </p>
<p>Sop14’s Mom, I totally get where you’re coming from. I do think internships are stressed upon so much by faculty as well, not just CC or adults! So sometimes I get really worried about it.</p>
<p>Busdriver and eirann: I work in a restaurant in a large casino owned by a HUGE corporation (it owns like 50? other casinos all over the world/city). My location (you can probably guess) strives on tourism and casino/hotels. I’m studying marketing/PR/advertising and I KNOW there’s a LOT of room for me up there in corporate if I make it up there. I make a little over $17/hr with 25 hours average a week. The only relevant experience is having casino/tourism experience… and maybe customer service? My job is entry-level. </p>
<p>All the internships are unpaid. One has a stipend. One that I have my eye on is paid but I’m not sure how much as I have yet to hear from them. It’s very competitive though.</p>
<p>So are you getting to do anything that has to do with your field, or is it just that you’re working in the same place? If you’re doing anything related to marketing/PR/advertising, I’d say to stay, but if you’re dealing cards or waiting tables or something like that, I think it would absolutely make sense to try to do the internship.</p>
<p>I agree with eireann (whom I cross-posted with earlier).</p>
<p>Having a Real Job that pays you Real Money is worth more than any internship, IMO.</p>
<p>Let the company you’re currently working for that you’d love to work full-time in a certain area. If you are well-regarded in your current area, which it sounds like you are, they will arrange for you to talk to people in the area you’re interested in. And if you are well-regarded, you’ve definitely got a leg up to get a job in the area you want to work.</p>
<p>I’ve seen it happen.</p>
<p>I agree with VeryHappy. Also I work in corporate america - i have see many people move from the bottom up.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend giving up what you have for any type of unpaid internship. Ask them if you can speak with someone in the area you are interested in working. Worst that can happen is that they say no… but most corporations like developing their own. You already know the business and the products and that gives you a leg up on external candidates.</p>
<p>Gosh, you do have a tough choice, lullabies. That is a very good salary for a college student, for sure. But if it is waiting tables or hostessing, I think that will not help you at all in your field, even with the company you work for. Just one person’s opinion.</p>
<p>I earned an extremely good salary waitressing in college, but no way would it do a thing for my career field, nor even help for moving up in the company. Yet it was plenty of $$ for the time spent, which was helpful. I would have to separate this out from my career goals.</p>
<p>You surely need to talk to your career center. And yes, if you can find a paid internship getting you experience towards your career goals, it would be worth quitting your job for. Though honestly, if you are a hard worker and they like you…no matter what they say, they just might take you back if they force you to quit anyways.</p>
<p>This is probably not relevant, being so long ago…but when I was waitressing in college, my company said that there was no way I could take six weeks off to go to summer training for ROTC, and that I would have to quit, and they refuse to rehire. That actually wasn’t even legal, but I wasn’t going to cause a fuss over it. Long story short, magically after I reapplied, they had a position open, and rehired me. First time, ever (yeah right)!</p>
<p>I can’t imagine an employer that wouldn’t want someone with ROTC experience.</p>
<p>My feeling is keep the job, but it’s hard for me to see a path from where you are to where you want to go unless you have access to their internal hiring system and can peruse the kinds of jobs that you eventually want to wind up in. If you go this route, learn all that you can about the company (I assume that it’s public).</p>
<p>nah, BC, some employers don’t care about ROTC experience. They don’t care if you’re learning to be a better leader, or how to shoot a weapon, become an officer or anything like that. They just need someone available to fill a shift, who can serve many tables quickly, and say nicely, “Would you like rice, baked potato, or french fries with that?” They can’t hire someone else temporarily to fill your job. I understand that, though it’s not exactly legal.</p>
<p>First idea. One area that is fairly new (to some but probably not to large corporations) is the social media scene. Perhaps this is not something you like to do but it may offer the flexibility to keep your current job. Most companies have a Facebook Fan page, twitter page, etc. but many don’t know how to use it. They set up their Facebook page ( not the same as Facebook profile for personal account ) and it just sits there because business owners are too busy to work on them or don’t know how to promote themselves. Same with twitter, tumbler, pinterest, etc, etc. whatever the new-site-du-jour is.<br>
Try to find some medium to smaller size companies that you love (passionate about products or services) and perhaps offer your services to help with acquiring fans e.g. for 3 months. Often social media managers can work from home or remote location and don’t have to be tied to the office. Great way to incorporate your PR/web/video/marketing skills and get some internship experience while still keeping your restaurant job. </p>
<p>Second idea. You have been doing your freelance design. Did you set up your own company for that? Running your own business is a lot of work but you learn a lot too. That by itself, is an internship and can help you get experience. You may have done this already but just wanted to put it out there.</p>
<p>Third idea. Have you tried to offer your PR/marketing services on job sites like elance, odesk, etc? These are credible sites but it does take some time to get a job but at least they are paid and help get you some job experience. Can also be done while keeping your restaurant job.</p>
<p>Fourth idea. Contact alumni from your school (also in your field) and see if they are willing to help or know of any openings in their company. </p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>