Student Internship Panel

Entry Details

The Student Internship Panel is an initiative where student chapter members who have completed internships with companies that are coming to our career fair share their experiences, insights, and advice with fellow members. The panel features interns from various private clubs and different departments that they oversaw. This variety highlighted their unique journeys, challenges, and key takeaways. The event included an open Q&A session, allowing attendees to engage directly and learn how to excel in their internships and secure future opportunities. This enhanced our chapter by sharing knowledge within our chapter and transferring real-world knowledge from experienced members to other members who do not have any experience. This event boosted member involvement and enhanced the sense of community and support within the chapter. By featuring internships from clubs that attend our career fairs, we reinforce the relationships with these organizations and encourage future collaboration such as job placement after college. Showcasing our chapter's focus on career development makes membership more appealing to new students and helps retain existing members as well.

Implementation

The idea for the Student Internship Panel was first discussed in our executive board meeting. We realized that the most common questions we got from first-year students, were that they wanted to learn in-depth information about how internships work and what these companies offer. We then reached out to members who had completed internships at various clubs that were attending our career fair. To ensure that new students attended we used our email list, and our public social media pages to promote the event. The event structure started with an introduction from each intern, followed by a series of the most common asked questions which covered their roles, challenges, skills they gained, and advice for other students. After that there was a Q&A session allowed attendees to ask specific questions based on their interests and what they wanted to know. We also provided networking opportunities at the end of the panel where members could connect with the panelists and talk with them 1-on-1. The feedback on the panel was that members felt the event was extremely beneficial in helping them understand what to expect from internships and how to stand out to these companies. New members also expressed that they were feeling more confident about applying for internships after hearing about their peer's experience. Another positive reaction we heard was that many members were feeling more motivated to seek out internships after their first year in different areas of club management. This event gave members who are new to the club management filed a greater sense of belonging because they saw how the chapter actively supports professional development.