You can’t get experience without getting a job, and you can’t get a job without experience.
It’s a frustrating situation - what can you do?
To break into the rapidly expanding and increasingly competitive fields of environmental science and sustainability, experience is a must.
While it is easy to set your sights on spring break, which is only a few weeks away, now is the time to seek out the perfect summer internship. Getting experience in an area that interests you is the best way to learn and to get an edge when it comes to getting a job.
What makes sustainability oriented positions special?
“These opportunities offer new insights into old problems and give us chances to challenge long-held assumptions about how things work,” explain IU South bend Sustainability interns Kristin Hanks and Nathan Bower in their recent Indiana Teaching and Learning article.
They like the opportunities they’ve received through their internships to advance sustainability and develop new skills. Projects on the Bloomington campus have included inventorying campus greenhouse gas emissions and assessing campus green building standards.
On the IUSB campus, Lizz Radican, an intern at the Center for a Sustainable Future, saw her internship as a way to get involved.
“Sustainability issues have always been something I have cared about, been passionate about, but I never really knew how to get involved,” she explains.
After two semesters at the Center, Radican says “I’ve gotten involved both on the campus and in the community. It’s helped me to strengthen skills that I already have as well as develop some new ones. I like that, largely, I get to choose the things, the activities and the events that I get involved in. It will definitely help me in the future.”
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
While this saying may or may not hold true for all careers, knowing more people in a field can help to at least know the range of options. For Radican, she has learned about the field, but also the players.
“I didn’t realize that there was such a large community already involved in sustainability. There are so many people passionately working towards it. It helps to be connected to a community like that,” she explains.
This Olympic season, go for the green. Get green experience, contacts, and a marketable edge with an internship.
Green Internships Resources
National Wildlife Federation/Campus Ecology Internship resources
http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Campus-Solutions/Get-Involved/Apply-for-an-Internship.aspx
Green Corps Training and Internship programs
http://www.greencorps.org/about-us/internships
Green America
www.greenamericatoday.org/about/employment/
TheDailyGreen.com Internships
Green Editorial Internship & MySpace/Facebook/Social Web Internship
www.thedailygreen.com
AmeriCorps
A summer or a year serving with an AmeriCorps National Service program can provide internship credits and a valuable hands on experience. Provides a living stipend, health insurance, child care allowance, and education award of up to $5, 350 to pay for school or pay off student loans.
www.americorps.org
Interns at Work
A fairly new program from a Lilly endowment, provides internship pay for unpaid internships. Students in good standing can apply for internships which apply to their career goals or major.
Contact Kim Moore in Career Services520-4435; kfmoore@iusb.edu
http://www.iusb.edu/~sbcareer/internships.shtml
Applications are in theCareer Services Office; Admin Room 117.
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