The Internship
Sorry guys, but I'm not talking about the movie, The Internship*, staring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, but the internship process I've spent the past month going through.
At the end of February my CJ 4850 Professor forwarded me an email regarding summer internships, and the application if I was interested. I had thought about it after talking to my advisor and she said it would be a good experience for someone like me to get some real lab experience and get my foot in the door some. Although my initial thought was spring 2016 since the application process had already happened for this spring and I knew my fall semester was going to be time consuming.
This email was for the summer a time I hadn't thought about, but the summer would have meant all of my time was focused on just the internship. If I got an internship, it would also require me to find some sort of housing during the summer. The first part was easy enough I had two weeks to fill out the application, write an essay on why I want the internship and what I expect to gain from it and turn it into the Criminal Justice department. The application included a list of agencies to chose from including: Stanislaus County District Attorneys office, Modesto Police Department, Juvenile Hall, Stanislaus County Coroners Office and many more.
There were scheduled interviews the following two weeks after the application deadline. Each applicant had to dress professionally, show up on time, bring a copy of their resume and be prepared to talk about the two agencies they had chosen on their application. I got a little help to spruce up my resume because I wanted it to look as professional as possible since I had no related work experience. The interview made me extremely nervous, I had gone through interviews before, but this one was different. This one, if nothing went wrong could show me that all of these courses I've taken have gotten me to the job I want. Although it was just an internship, it would give me the reassurance that this is the career path for me.
My interview was in the first week, so I had at least one extra week before hearing back. I'll admit I was getting a little nervous, I know I hadn't done great during my interview, but I hadn't heard anything (although having my mom asking me every few days didn't help either). I received an email two weeks to the day from my interview. My professor was planning on putting me in the Ripon Crime Lab (my #1 choice) but was waiting to hear back. Oh thank goodness, at least there was something, at least there was hope. I may have bombed my interview but they understood the stress.
The next day, the day before spring break I got another email, one I wish I hadn't read, opened or even seen that day, but it happened. My professor had heard back, and unfortunately the crime lab was not taking interns during the summer, and my #2 choice the Coroners Office intern placements had already happened. Yes that kind of ruined my Friday, my beginning of spring break. But hey, I've got to look up and look ahead.
As I said at the beginning my initial thought was to have the internship next spring, and maybe that can still happen. I know what I did wrong during the interview, how to improve it, and improve my resume. It was a downer, but it won't keep me down.
Thank you to everyone who helped me during this long process with my essay and my resume. It means a lot to me, and helped me get this far.
*Fun fact, when they were shooting the film they used actual Google employees to play volleyball because the extras they had couldn't play volleyball.
At the end of February my CJ 4850 Professor forwarded me an email regarding summer internships, and the application if I was interested. I had thought about it after talking to my advisor and she said it would be a good experience for someone like me to get some real lab experience and get my foot in the door some. Although my initial thought was spring 2016 since the application process had already happened for this spring and I knew my fall semester was going to be time consuming.
This email was for the summer a time I hadn't thought about, but the summer would have meant all of my time was focused on just the internship. If I got an internship, it would also require me to find some sort of housing during the summer. The first part was easy enough I had two weeks to fill out the application, write an essay on why I want the internship and what I expect to gain from it and turn it into the Criminal Justice department. The application included a list of agencies to chose from including: Stanislaus County District Attorneys office, Modesto Police Department, Juvenile Hall, Stanislaus County Coroners Office and many more.
There were scheduled interviews the following two weeks after the application deadline. Each applicant had to dress professionally, show up on time, bring a copy of their resume and be prepared to talk about the two agencies they had chosen on their application. I got a little help to spruce up my resume because I wanted it to look as professional as possible since I had no related work experience. The interview made me extremely nervous, I had gone through interviews before, but this one was different. This one, if nothing went wrong could show me that all of these courses I've taken have gotten me to the job I want. Although it was just an internship, it would give me the reassurance that this is the career path for me.
My interview was in the first week, so I had at least one extra week before hearing back. I'll admit I was getting a little nervous, I know I hadn't done great during my interview, but I hadn't heard anything (although having my mom asking me every few days didn't help either). I received an email two weeks to the day from my interview. My professor was planning on putting me in the Ripon Crime Lab (my #1 choice) but was waiting to hear back. Oh thank goodness, at least there was something, at least there was hope. I may have bombed my interview but they understood the stress.
The next day, the day before spring break I got another email, one I wish I hadn't read, opened or even seen that day, but it happened. My professor had heard back, and unfortunately the crime lab was not taking interns during the summer, and my #2 choice the Coroners Office intern placements had already happened. Yes that kind of ruined my Friday, my beginning of spring break. But hey, I've got to look up and look ahead.
As I said at the beginning my initial thought was to have the internship next spring, and maybe that can still happen. I know what I did wrong during the interview, how to improve it, and improve my resume. It was a downer, but it won't keep me down.
Thank you to everyone who helped me during this long process with my essay and my resume. It means a lot to me, and helped me get this far.
*Fun fact, when they were shooting the film they used actual Google employees to play volleyball because the extras they had couldn't play volleyball.
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