Geospatial Internships – Where to find an opportunity?

This is probably one of the main questions I get asked when I am speaking to new graduates or people wanting to get experience in the GeoSpatial Industry. Last week’s blog post received some great feedback on Linked In and people shared some great advice about their experiences with internships.

Sílvia Batista • Internships in every area of work are very necessary otherwise most of graduates won’t get the experience and therefore wouldn’t be able to put their recently acquired skills in action.

Chuck Skaggs • I got into GIS 25 years ago on a paid internship…been doing it ever since!!! ArcInfo 2.0!!!

Aleksander Buczkowski • From graduate perspective internships should be considered as getting on-the-job experience in business environment which is often stated by a problem in hiring young graduates.

Steve Stewart • Paid internships that have a limited and defined duration have a lot of merit. I did a GIS internship back in college that was very valuable experience. That said, don’t work for free. The employer needs to have a small amount ($8 – $12 an hour) of skin in the game; otherwise, they do not have an incentive to develop you as an intern. Additionally, if you set your value at ‘free’ no one will value your time. Why should they? Non-profits and social/environmental enterprises are the exception to this rule.

Christa Campbell • whether an internship is exactly what you wanted/expected should not determine if it is a good experience or not. Any internship provides a learning experience of some kind. It provides a way to network and work within a real world environment.

This week I am going to look at some ways to get yourself an internship that will be both beneficial to you and the employer.

Recruitment Sites

Not too many recruitment sites have intern categories but there are a few resources that maybe of interest to you. The sites listed below are mostly from the USA but a quick web search you may also find one for your country as well. If you do, please let me know so we can add to this page as a reference for others in the future.

Internships.com

Using the keyword GIS I found 23 possible internships at the time of writing this. Only 6 were paid opportunities but most were full-time.

GeoSearch.com

GISJOBS.com

Using the job type of Intern, unfortunately only one job was found.

Universities / Colleges

Many universities offer linking programs for their students as part of the course, where they have to undertake a predetermined number of hours to gain credits for a particular subject. These universities maintain a good relationship with a wide range of specific employers.

Networking

I have said it many times before in other articles and presentations, but networking with industry professionals is always going to be your best way to find an internship. I know you were hoping this article would give you the secret to landing that great internship without having to lift a finger, but that is not how life works. You are your best marketer and you just need to get in front of people who can connect you with others that may be looking. Seek guidance from people you know, take some risks, and ask the question. What is the worst that is going to happen when you ask people if they have intern opportunities – they will probably say no, but they will now know you are seeking. They might know someone, who knows someone or if an opportunity does arise in the future they will remember that you asked. The best thing is they say yes and problem solved J

Don’t be discouraged by a no, use it to keep on moving to you find a yes. Take that advice for all things in your life.

source: Empowernetwork