Peer Career Consultant Blogs

As a sophomore looking for internship experiences, I struggled to know what positions I was qualified for or even capable of doing. I assumed that for a lot of the roles I was interested in, experience was necessary. 

At the time, much of my work experience seemed irrelevant: I had volunteered at my local library and worked in fast food, both of which are far from the world of corporate accounting. Because of this, I was worried about not being able to get past the application stage.

Through the process, I learned that “relevant” can take on a very flexible meaning. While I had no experience in accounting other than the classes I was taking to fulfill my business core, there were ways that I could leverage my previous experience toward my career aspirations. While working in fast food, I learned to engage with customers and learned methods to succeed in customer satisfaction. I could apply the customer service skills from my time in fast food to my accounting internships when engaging with clients. In my previous experience, I also worked with teams and in group environments. I was also able to incorporate valuable experiences from my club activities and volunteer work onto my resume.

Many recruiters already know that students will come into internships and jobs with limited experience when it comes to the work they'll be doing. However, there are still many skills from your student experiences that are transferable when you start your internship. For this reason, it's important to reflect on what you've done and how it contributes to your resume. First, make a list to see what skills you have learned. Ask yourself: how could I use these skills in a professional setting? Could it help with organization? Could it help me with clients?