This past Thursday, December 6th, I attended the VSB Internship Action Plan Workshop which was hosted by Jenna DellOrfano in Bartley room 1063. This was a great opportunity for students to get an introduction to how to search for internships and make use of the app Handshake. The session I attended was mostly filled with other freshman, but the information shared would be useful to anybody in the Villanova School of Business. We began by going around the room introducing ourselves, which established a comfortable environment in the room. This set the tone that made this session feel like more of a collaborative learning experience rather than students sitting in a room for forty-five minutes being lectured to.
We moved onto a PowerPoint presentation that informed us of different employment opportunities such as internships, externships, and jobs. We learned that for first year students, there is not much expectation with regards to internships, as you cannot receive credit for any you may take part in. However, this was not meant to discourage students from seeking them, as having internships over the summer can still benefit you greatly by giving you real world work experience and insight into a career field you may be interested in. Sophomore year and beyond is really when most students are expected to search for internships, and we learned how to filter our searches through Handshake to look for internship opportunities that best suit our interests.
However, perhaps the most important thing we learned in this session was about the hidden job market. We learned that the largest amounts of job postings are discovered not through online advertisements or employment apps, but rather are found through networking. We learned that the university offers many resources that teach students how to interact professionally in hopes that they will learn how to network more efficiently. In this way, many people learn about jobs through their friends or family, and that is why it is important to always be making connections with people because you never know when it could come back to help you in the future.
Overall, this was a great experience that I would really recommend to any students who are unsure of how to navigate Handshake or are looking to get started in their internship search. As a result of the session I am now more proficient in Handshake and have a greater insight to the resources available to me as a student to help me in my future search for employment.
For students who are searching for more resources on different internships and jobs available as well as different tips and guidelines to help you in your career search, you can visit this helpful page on Villanova’s website: https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/business/undergraduate/careerdevelopmentresources/careerresources.html
Backpack to Breafcase 