With winter term coming up there’s been one thing primarily on my mind: internships. While during winter term you can do a plethora of other things aside from internships, this January I really want to prioritize the experience of working in a structured internship or similar program. Because of that, I’ve spent a lot of time utilizing the resources at the Career Exploration and Development (CED) center on campus. The CED doesn’t just help students out with finding internships though, there are so many other opportunities to help you out with your career goals and other personal aspirations. Here’s a short list of the ways that the CED can help you, no matter where you are in your journey at or after Oberlin!
Meet With a Career Advisor: We have a great team of career advisors who are available to help you with things such as creating a LinkedIn page, editing your resume and cover letter, or even helping you choose classes to set you up for a career. They can also assist you with mock-interviews or being a second pair of eyes on an application you're working through.
Winter and Summer Internships: The CED curates detailed lists of internships for both winter and summer. In particular, the CED office finds ‘micro-internships’ for students to pursue during winter term. These internships are found all over the country, online, or even right on Oberlin's campus. They usually last the entire month of January and are a fantastic way to spend your winter term in a productive and enjoyable way. An added bonus is that students can apply for funding to offset any costs related to the internship such as travel or living expenses!
Headshots: In the CED there is the Oberlin College & Conservatory Headshot Photo Booth that provides free self-service professional headshots to students. I went there last year to get some photos for LinkedIn and I have to say I’m pretty impressed by the photo quality! You would never guess that they were taken in a basement rather than a studio with professional lighting!
Internship+: This is a fantastic program: Oberlin offers third-year students $5,000 worth of funding to help make summer internships, research, or other enriching opportunities more accessible. This can be applied towards study abroad programs as well!
These are just a few ways the CED office can help you! Be rest assured, you are not expected to know what you want to do after college for a while yet! And even when you’re towards the end of, or even after, your college journey, Oberlin still makes it very accessible to explore other career paths. And even outside of a career, sometimes it can just be really amazing having some support finding fantastic internships, study abroad opportunities, or research, no matter the season or location!
