Mary Jane Krapfl answers with a smile.
"Good afternoon. This is Mary Jane," she says. "How may I help you?"
The question exudes sincerity, and her joy remains obvious.
"I love what I do," she says. "My job lets me help people."
Five years ago, this confident business professional did not exist. Instead, Krapfl toiled away as a factory worker at Flexsteel. At the time, the mere mention of her working as an administrative assistant at a college made Krapfl laugh.
Then came college. Krapfl enrolled at Northeast Iowa Community College. Then came her internship.
"That's what changed everything," she said.
In 2006, Krapfl began an internship at NICC's Dubuque campus.
Instead of reading about how to properly answer a phone, schedule an appointment and deal with several clients at once, she began doing these tasks.
A year later, she left the ranks of her fellow interns and joined the ranks of the working.
Clarke College student Josh Glider started his internship at The
| tips for interns * Take advantage of the transition time at the beginning of your internship and ask lots of questions. * Meet with your supervisor to ensure that both of your expectations are being met. * Dress, speak, write and generally behave like a professional. Shake hands, make eye contact, smile and be friendly and confident. * Be observant and ask questions about appropriate behavior at the workplace. * Focus on your communication skills, both written and verbal. Proofread your written work carefully. When communicating with your co-workers, choose respectful, tactful and professional language at all times. * Show up to work on time, when you are expected. Call if you are going to be sick or late. * Establish good relationships with your co-workers by being polite, helpful and sensitive. * Accept assignments without complaint, ask for more work when assignments are completed and turn out good quality work. * When you leave, be sure to ask your supervisor for a letter of recommendation and keep in touch so that you can call upon him/her later when you are in need of a reference. Source: Career Center |
"It wasn't a requirement for me. It was just something I knew was going to help my career," said the 21-year-old computer information systems major.
And that is exactly the point, said James Onsager, NICC office technology instructor.
It was Onsager who found Krapfl her internship, and now the former student is an NICC employee. Onsager said he credits internships for many of the college's success stories.
"Occupation experience, as we call it here, often allows students to transition into a full-time employee position," he said. "The majority of employers prefer someone who has had some office experience. For instance, the only experience Mary Jane had ever had was working in the factory. She never answered phones or scheduled appointments there. She needed some experience in the field to get that confidence."
Apparently, the philosophy works for a majority of college students seeking employment. A 2008 National Association of Colleges and Employers study found that overall, employers extended job offers to approximately 70 percent of their interns.
The message that experience counts seems to be catching on, according to Kerry Willigan, assistant director of Graduate Career Management at George Mason University. Willigan recently released a report that showed a 25 percent to 30 percent surge in the number of students interested in gaining pre-professional experience before graduation.
"Students believe that internships are worth doing," she said. "They see them as a logical way to prove themselves and to sample a career field."
In the past few months, Clarke's Glider has fixed computer problems, interacted with clients, taken business trips and dealt with supervisors in a work setting.
"It taught me a lot of the things that I couldn't learn in school," he said. "The real world office setting is much different from the school room."
With a $9 per hour salary, Glider also earns some extra cash. "But there's more benefit than just the monetary aspect," he said. "I definitely even think an unpaid internship would be worth it. Paid or not, you benefit."
