From Class of 2018 to NEXTerns

So, you’ve graduated from college and you haven’t yet landed your first “real job.” You are searching the job boards and leveraging your connections, but everyone you talk to is looking for one to two years of experience, and while you’ve had summer jobs and completed semester or summer internships, it doesn’t quite add up. Well, what you may not know is that many companies offer internships to new grads as a sort of test run before potentially looking to hire them full-time.

In college, my adviser and favorite professor always said, “internships lead to jobs,” and boy was he right. Not only does having internship experience help build a strong resume, but landing an internship after graduation can be the key to starting a full-time career in your field (if the stars align).

Landing an internship after graduation can be the key to starting a full-time career in your field.Click To Tweet

Think about it, you would never buy a car without test-driving it, right? So why wouldn’t companies want to do the same things with new employees? For starters, they can train you and help you develop to best suit the needs of their organization or their team with less risk. And for you, taking on an internship right out of college may seem like it’s temporary, but you have less to lose at this point in your life, so why not take a chance? Don’t be scared off by the term “intern” or an end date – last year, we reported that 15 percent of our employees started as interns. At both Padilla and at my prior agency, this is how we’ve brought in entry-level new hires.

Here at Padilla, we are excited to welcome our 2018 NEXTerns. Over the summer, these NEXTerns will be exposed to cross-office culture, real client work, invaluable trainings from experts within the agency and get hands-on experience all while having fun and working towards professional development goals. We hope you’ll check our website and social media pages in a few weeks as we introduce you to our first class of Padilla NEXTerns.

If you are one of the recent grads still looking to land that first “real job” out of college, we’ve got some tips for you!

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