Doing an Internship Outside Your Field of Study

It’s possible to pursue an internship outside your field of study, especially if you want to venture into a different industry. Here are three ways in which such an experience can help you in your career.

Experiment with your interests and passion

It’s normal to lose interest in what you’re studying and decide to change direction midway. Because of this, internships are good platforms to experiment with what you really want to do after your studies. You can also figure out whether the role is something you really want to do as a career.

That said, learn as much as you can from your placement by picking up new skills, both hard and soft, that’ll enrich you. For example, if you have a passion for health and fitness, then interning at a gym or wellness centre will give you experience in interacting with clients and help you realise if you gain job satisfaction from improving your clients’ health and fitness.

Acquire new skills

Strengthen your resume

Such internships will increase your knowledge and enhance your skill sets beyond your course of study. Although learning something new is always hard, persevere and make good use of the opportunity during your internship; it’ll not only form part of your resume and portfolio, it may even lead you to similar roles in the future. For instance, a museum internship experience may lead you to a curatorial role after graduation.

Feel free to plot the dots on your canvas by pursuing your varied interests!

Boasting a list of core skill sets on your resume is ideal if you’re looking at developing a multi-faceted career.

Skills unique to you are very often the edge you have over other candidates. For example, having additional artistic or musical skills would be an advantage for a teaching position, as you can use these skills to stimulate students and add to their learning experience.

It’s wise to try a new field while on your internship in order to get a taste of the job scope. Moreover, it’ll help you decide if a certain profession really is your cup of tea. Keep searching for what’s meaningful for you, and look for meaning in everything you do!