Internships - Page 3

It's a good idea to look for internships with small organizations. Big companies usually like to have everything on file and they normally ask for a SSN. I have done two internships, my first one only required to submit a resume and it was a non-paid internship. The current internship that I'm doing I got through my University and it's a paid one. Oddly enough they only asked for an interview, not even a resume.
I would probably avoid internships that are close to the government, or ones that deal with kids because they do background checks if you want to work with kids, it's kinda dumb, but they keep people like k-man away from our kids. lol jk



Yes, I typed all this just to set up a good joke. Good advice nonetheless.

I have an internship and I work with kids. I sent in my resume, they called me for an interview and gave me the internship. When the time came for my background check I was pretty upfront with the Human Resources guy, since he knew I was doing the internship for school credit he had me give him three references instead of going to the police department to get finger printed and all that. I've been at my internship for almost three months now and have had no problems. This is at a community organization, so they might be more open to working with us than say a govt location or a large office but it doesn't hurt to try.

I did a journalism internship in an alternative newsweekly. The writer I worked under was really cool about my situation and took me in for a summer. I got paid whenever I published an article, but it was entered in their database as if it was his work, so he would cut me up a personal check.

I also got school credit for my work there.

No I don't. Of course that is the problem when it comes to the background check.


Well this whole internship thing has me worried. I have had no luck in even getting my phone calls returned, you think they would be more desperate. Well I would most likely hit the streets looking for something that doesn't require that I work with children. Everything I find has to do with children. My sister asked her cop friend about the background check and he said the only requirements are a name and date of birth. I keep hearing all these different things though so when I get a straight answer I will let you guys know.

Does your school have special projects? That is my plan B but it is basically reseach and one big paper. This is something I don't want to do. I imagined myself shadowing counseling sessions. This has just put a damper on my week.

ok all of you people who have done internships I just want to say yall are so damn lucky!!
and to those who didn't specify so, were they paid or unpaid internships?

Look for internships at your university/college, most internships are open. If you apply for internships that you found on a newspaper or internet ad, it's mostly likely that other people have applied to them too.

Thanks for the advice
I really wanted an internship program that would allow me to do research in another state and with a stipend but hey I'll take whatever I can get!

Okay so I got an internship!

It is unpaid but all I had to do was make a phone call and I was in! Didn't have to go through an application process and it is in a very prestigious clinical research laboratory in Texas. I went to interview with the person in charge of the research on Monday and he is very excited to have me work with them. People have to go through a background check though, I have a DL so that was no problem for me but it might be for other people. DREAM better pass soon 'cause the Dr. I'll be working with also mentioned the possibility of employment with them depending on how involved I became with the research.

So it is possible to get an internship (unpaid at least), all you have to do is try.

Congrats! I'm glad you got it! =D

As a note to engineers and scientists who may be reading this. Do not even think about going through background checks for internship positions in the defense industry. They will do a much more thorough job. They will talk to your friends, they will check your parents, federal agents will come and knock on doors.

Thanks! and yes I agree with Nick, the only reason I agreed to do the background check was because I had already volunteered at one of the branches of the lab before so my paperwork pretty much just transfered over, and since I had no problems in the past, I just had to renew my permits.