By Julia Oller | Echo
Many students looking for a golden ticket to landing post-grad employment already have it built into their majors.
According to a 2014 National Association of Colleges and Employers study, 64.8 percent of interns landed a job offer from their employer. Even though internships play a crucial role in gaining experience and connections before graduation, students often have difficulty finding them.
A new course offered this fall, titled Internships: Making the Most of the Opportunity, will walk students through the process of finding and capitalizing on the many internship options available to them.
Taylor Director of Indiana Employer Relations Jeff Aupperle, who will co-teach the course with Cathy Weatherspoon, said the class is highly interactive and will allow students to further both their personal and professional development.
"The course is an opportunity for us to have a full, robust picture of the internship process," Aupperle said.
The class is the third in a four-part series exploring the concept of vocation as it affects every aspect of a person's life. While the internship section is mainly practical, the first few weeks will pick up on the philosophical discussions started in the previous classes.
Aupperle said that these discourses begin with the "dimensionality" of vocation, or how a person's calling relates to every part of life, not only the workforce. Internships are a lab for this perspective, as students must learn to balance a weighty work schedule with the demands of family, church and friends.
"We talk a lot about living faithfully in all areas of life," Aupperle said. "Work is one of those and it's a very critical one, but lots of times college students haven't had a real professional experience. . . . It's their first opportunity to start to take this idea of vocation we're trying to instill and give them an experiential opportunity to put it into practice."
The remaining weeks will cover creating a résumé, interviewing, networking and processing the learning experience. Aupperle said that coursework will be minimal, but students will be expected to attend activities such as mock interviews and the internship fair.
This approach reflects Aupperle's desire for students "begin with the end in mind" when hunting for internships. Starting with an end goal will direct what organizations and companies students apply to, hopefully reducing the anxiety that can come with unlimited options.
"We want all of our students to think about at the end of an internship-'How much further down the path do they want to be?'" Aupperle said.
Because the class revolves around steps that all students should be taking to secure an internship, Aupperle said that it's a win-win.
"The value is you're getting credit for doing something that you're supposed to be doing anyways," Aupperle said.
Internships: Making the Most of the Opportunity is a one-credit hour course meeting on Thursdays from 3-4 p.m. beginning fall 2015. For more information email jeffry_aupperle@taylor.edu.
