Help! I’m under-qualified for an internship!
Posted by Chanelle Schneider on May 23, 2009
Do a search for jobs in your area, look up the internships, and this is what you will see: “Are you a student or recent graduate looking to…?”; “…COLLEGE GRADUATES ONLY!”
This is not a new issue, but it is one that deserves increased attention. A college dropout is someone who leaves their place of higher education before obtaining a degree. Today, there are marginalized sectors of people who are no longer in school, but cannot be labeled college dropouts because they did not leave of their own volition. With college affordability becoming increasing difficult, many former students are now stuck in the one of the worst Catch 22 scenarios imaginable. They want to finish their education but they cannot afford to do so. They look for a job to pay down their debt but can only get hourly, part-time jobs that barely cover the cost to commute to work. Hoping for something better, something more in line with their passions, they look for internships in their field. Confronted by the afore-mentioned requirements, they realize they’re under-qualified…for an internship.
For someone who knows exactly what they want their career to be, but they are no longer in school, and did not obtain a degree, this is just plain tiring. All of the advice out there suggests keeping pushing, or to make your own way. Sure, that makes sense. Some of the greatest inventions have come out of a need for something better and more efficient. The question becomes, why should people in this sector have to struggle with something as inefficient as job searching when there could be a better way?
So, what are you trying to achieve? What is your passion? Do you know how to get there…from here?
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There From Here 
Darren Daz Cox said
Don’t use your status as an excuse. Not all internships require things you can’t provide. There is always a way to get what you desire, stick with it!!
mizChartreuse said
Wpw! I’m pretty much in the same exact situation. I need $6000 to pay off my last semester balance, in order to register for classes I need in the fall…and I’m literally two classes and one incomplete away from graduation. Such a shame.
@Darren It’s not about using status as an excuse, really.
Genuine Chris Johnson said
Focus on your service to others, not your anointing from others. I have a degree, but that doesn’t matter in what I do. When you focus on what you’re here to give, then you become more powerful.
Chanelle Schneider said
Excellent point, Chris! For non-grads it’s easy to forget that people and not paper is what matters.
Sherri Elliott said
Great blog…I enjoyed your perspective. Please feel free to join and add comments to my blog. Sherrielliott-yeary.com or twitter @sherrielliott.
Tahnks, for sharing! Keep up the good work and anyone would be thankful to have you as a “free” intern! Sher
Chanelle Schneider said
Thanks for the confidence boost!
Julie said
Networking definitely helps find an internship. I took an ice skating class with my college’s hockey coach, and said I wanted to get into sports marketing. He said I can apply for his Marketing internship with the team for the next semester. At that time I just switched from a Geology major my sophomore year to a Business Administration major and had just started taking only one marketing class!
It was also frustrating for me before graduation searching for jobs. I was even looking at internships, and applying to ones that even said for undergraduates! No luck, but trying never hurts.