Employer, Intern Tips for Effective Internships: What Do They Mean for Blind Applicants?

Summary:
An internship can be your key to hitherto locked doors to a career. How do you make the most of it as a person with a visual impairment? Here are tips from both employers and interns.

The Win-Win of Internships: All About Education

The Picture of Perfection

Does Disability Change Anything About Internship?

Related Links

Related Content


The Win-Win of Internships: All About Education

There is no downside to adding an internship to your experience and qualifications as you prepare for a career. So long as both you and the employer providing the internship make the most out of the relationship, the benefits to you both are virtually unparalleled.

The value of an internship is only enhanced when the intern has a disability. For the student, it provides practical, documented experience. For the employer, it's a chance to see how someone with a disability will work out in the position and as part of a team within the company.

An internship is not free or cheap labor, nor is it a job. It's all about education. That's why internships are rarely paid. In fact, it is likely you will have to pay tuition to your school for the period you intern. If you realize that the internship is part of your career preparation and your college experience, you will be prepared to take full advantage of it as a stepping stone to your future career. If an employer understands his role (and the value of that role to his industry) as a teacher and guide, he will know how to work productively with you as an intern.

Michael Schwake is a student at the University of Alberta and participated in the University of Washington DO-IT Scholars Program. (See DO-IT CAREERS Blends Degree Program With Proven Skills.) He sees the benefit of an internship to the employer clearly. "The companies are looking at being good community partners and (are looking for) potential employees, so they treat interns quite well," he explains. "The pay will vary, if there is anything at all other than living and travel expenses. Some will offer a scholarship to pay for one's tuition for the next school year. There is a tax advantage to companies that do this, and also they look good in terms of complying with ADA and Employment Equity (the nondiscrimination law in Canada)."

As Earth Systems Science and Policy advises employers, "By hosting an intern, you are making an important contribution to a student's education. Internships provide students with critical job experience, help them to focus their educational goals, and give them a chance to develop skills they have learned in the classroom. In addition, interns can provide cost-effective, highly skilled labor for your organization while giving you a chance to observe potential new employees without having to hire them on a long-term basis."

For your part, explains Dave Bracken from WetFeet.com, "By interning, you not only gain professional skills but also gather insight into a particular industry or organizational culture and establish connections that might lead to a job."

Mylene Padolina at Microsoft Corporation pinpoints the value of hosting interns in the high-tech industry. "An academic degree alone just is not enough," she maintains. "In a fast-moving industry like computer technology, things change too fast for colleges to keep up. By taking a promising candidate in as an intern, a company such as Microsoft is able to provide that person with practical experience in a work environment and exposure to the latest technology that supplements her academic training."

However, no internship is worth your or the employer's time if it is not designed to foster education and career development. Call center technician Eric Patterson told me that, at one internship he had with a radio station, he had very little work to do and often was sent home early. "They weren't very organized or prepared," he said. This was in contrast to other internships he held where he was able both to use and develop his technical skills. See A Conversation About Work: Eric Patterson.


As an intern, you must approach the opportunity with the commitment to work hard and learn or you will lose not only practical experience in your chosen field but likely the valuable reference you may have received.

Attorney Sungeeta Jain has experience as an intern but has also supervised interns in the judge's chambers where she works in Seattle, Wash. She described one intern like this:

"She seemed just to want to be able to put the internship on her resume. She sometimes wouldn't even show up. She would give me back assignments without making the corrections I'd suggested. And she'd spend only about an hour researching a topic that should've taken much longer to be as thorough as you need in law."

Jain contrasted this intern with others who "were eager and enthusiastic, asked for challenging work, and really became part of Chambers."

Go to Top of Page


The Picture of Perfection

What do employers look for in an intern? Their answers, and the observations from people who have had internship experience, can be your guide to making the most of your own internship opportunity.

You can take two important steps toward ensuring that an internship is worth your time, effort and tuition. The first is choosing well. The second is doing your best to make it productive for both you and your employer.

Choose Well

WetFeet.com's Bracken cautions, "Make sure you have investigated all your options. Internships vary widely in the amount of pay or academic credit offered, the type of supervision and mentoring you receive, the length of time you are expected to work, and the amount of learning you will do."

Working for Credit How to Make the Most Out of a Semester-long Internship) explains:

"Have a clear understanding of exactly what an internship will entail, which you can do by drawing up what placement officials call a 'learning contract' -- a simple agreement outlining your goals for the internship. Many schools -- Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., and Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., for example -- require them, so that both parties agree on what work the student will do and what supervision the company or organization offering the internship will provide."

It is partly your responsibility to report back to the school when an employer is not holding up his end of the bargain. Let your internship coordinator or advisor know if your time is wasted, but have concrete examples of problems you encounter so the school can work them out or choose to drop the employer from the program.

When Nicholas Esposito was involved in a summer internship through The Washington Center (see Work in Washington: Two Interns Share Their D.C. Experiences), the center was unprepared for a blind intern. He worked with them in a constructive way to resolve the problems and enlisted support from his sponsor. As a result, the blind or visually impaired interns who take advantage of the center's intern program in coming years should be able to get more out of the experience.

Do Your Best

Tapping her experience on both ends of internship, Attorney Jain sums up what others told me as well: "I think the main thing employers look for in an intern is someone who is enthusiastic and hard working -- someone who is willing to learn and take direction from (the supervisor)."

The American Association for the Advancement of Science's EntryPoint.org offers "outstanding internship opportunities for students with disabilities in science, engineering, mathematics, and computer science." EntryPoint.org's Virginia Stearn advises prospective interns, "The employer needs to know what skills the intern has already. Even if you learn new skills during the internships (which is great!), the intern still has to have certain skills, usually on the computer, or the telephone, that fit with the assignment."

Karen L. Braitmayer is in the architectural field and employs a number of interns. She says:

"One of the top qualities that we look for, beyond a drive to learn, is good communication skills. This doesn't mean a physical ability to speak but a willingness to discuss your work, good listening skills, 'people skills' such as politeness with co-workers and clients, and communicating your needs about work-related projects or situations promptly and appropriately. Most technical skills are learned on the job. We also value promptness, responsibility for actions and work, a sense of humor and flexibility."

Braitmayer also describes how she uncovers the qualities her company wants in an intern:

"We screen potential employees and interns using questions during the interview in which we pose situations and gauge their responses. And we are impressed by potential employees who ask questions of us, who speak positively about their accomplishments and knowingly about the areas they intend to improve in and, lastly, who seem to have that illusive quality of being easy to work with (not a pushover but pleasant to be around) during the interview."

Jain distinguishes between what she expects from an intern and what impresses her.

"We don't expect interns to come in knowing a lot about the work. They're here to learn. Yes, their work product must be good, but being upbeat and asking lots of questions is even more important. We try to give them interesting projects. But the best interns are interested in all the work, not just the fun assignments. It's important that interns ask a lot of questions to make sure they are headed in the right direction on an assignment. And we like it when an intern is interested in what we are working on -- no matter how dry. The best interns we've ever had took it upon themselves to reorganize the judge's library. We told them not to stay after work, but they spent a lot of time going that extra mile. Their enthusiasm alone was tremendous."

Jain adds, "Tell your employer what interests you, what type of work you'd like to do, and what you want to learn. That helps him get a sense of your capabilities and adds new dimensions to an internship."

Go to Top of Page


Does Disability Change Anything About Internship?

The first thing being disabled changes about an internship is its value. Such an opportunity is even more important for someone who needs to prove more than just basic qualifications. By having a successful internship you, as a disabled career hopeful, provide potential but uncertain employers with a track record of successful work and assurance from another employer in their field.

Needless to say, however, disability also impacts the internship itself. It colors getting an internship and working in one as well as your college's attitude about placing you in an internship.

KL, an occupational therapist, actually found her own disability to be an advantage in obtaining one of her internships with a community mental health center. She explains:

"I think they felt I could relate better and that clients would not feel intimidated. It turned out that some were nervous about my being in a wheelchair, but it was true that many found me more approachable."

In another internship her disability helped KL be more effective.

"We worked with disabled kids. The kids, and their parents, had a much harder time saying 'I can't' when it was someone like them telling them to do it."

Scott Bellman is project coordinator at the DO-IT Program at the University of Washington. Drawing on his experience in placing interns with disability, he articulates what employers are worried about:

"Employers generally have two fears when I talk with them. First, they worry that the cost of an otherwise 'reasonable accommodation' will be too expensive because of the temporary nature of internships. In other words, a $1,000 modification for a new employee is reasonable because the employer can expect at least a couple of years productivity in return. For an intern coming on for 4-16 weeks, it seems less "reasonable." A second fear (which is similar to the first but applies to non-disabled interns as well) is that the employer fears that the intern will take up too much supervision and training time, which cannot be recouped in productivity during their short stay."

Bellman has several strategies for dealing with those fears:

"First, if a student is with a college or training institution which falls under the ADA or Section 504 (most of the time they do unless maybe some private or religious programs), the college must provide accommodations for activities outside the classroom such as field trips, job fairs, social events etc. Internships are covered as well, so the school must provide the accommodations for the internship, if the internship is a program requirement. A student who seeks an internship that is not required can request accommodations from the school, but the school is not mandated to provide them."

Like anyone else, a student with a disability must work hard at a well-chosen position to have a successful intern experience. So, do your best not to let being disabled make you take the first offer -- on the assumption that you may not get another choice. You deserve the same excellent opportunity as any other student.

Further you will not gain respect by failing to respect yourself. As Jain puts it, "The way you perceive you is how others perceive you." If you have trouble getting a quality internship because of your disability, call on your college to remedy the inequity.

Jain, who has paraplegia and uses a wheelchair, has this assessment about how employers regard disabled applicants for internships:

"I think, as a disabled person, you sometimes have to overcome that initial stereotypical image many people have of persons with disabilities by showing people that you are intelligent and capable of doing the work. But, once you overcome that initial obstacle, I don't (think) there is a difference between what employers expect from disabled interns compared to able-bodied interns. Attitude is key to succeeding in an internship."

Jain goes on to say that, in her experience, many non-disabled persons have the misconception that all disability results in lower intelligence. She recommends, "Let them know that, other than your specific disability, you are completely normal. You're disability will not affect your work or prevent you from being a good team member."

Jain and KL both observe that you will have to work harder than other interns to overcome employer concerns. Jain suggests being careful not to ask for extras not directly related to your disability. KL also believes that, as disabled workers, we must often be above reproach. "I always take care to have doctor's appointments outside work hours. A different person might take lots of work time for this, but, if you do, they are likely to associate the fact with your disability -- no matter how unrelated it is."

Tracy Schramm agrees. "When I interned, I had the same expectations and responsibilities as those who are non-disabled," Schramm says. "My employers wanted a good work ethic, the job done right and an upbeat attitude."

Perhaps the stress placed on personality stems from the relatively brief relationship the employer has with an intern. There is little time to get to know you, so putting your most pleasant and compatible face on from the start is to your advantage on several levels. A cheerful, positive demeanor is valued almost above all else in any applicant, but it may as well be a prerequisite for a disabled person. Since we usually have to overcome skepticism about our competence, there is simply no replacement for communicating confidence. Further, your cheerful attitude helps allay concern that you will need lots of help and reassurance. In so short a relationship, there is no time for hand-holding.

Says EntryPoint.org's Stearn:

"For a student who is blind or has any type of disability, the employer needs to know what assistive technology is needed and where to get it. The prospective intern has to be as specific as possible because the employer probably is not familiar with the technology. Sometimes the intern can bring his/her own technology. But then it has to be compatible with what is used in the office. An intern should tell the employer well in advance because the technology does not arrive overnight. It may take two or three weeks, and those weeks are wasted if the technology is not in place."

Stearn goes onto another topic of importance to students with a disability:

"Especially for an intern who is blind or mobility-impaired, the intern has to check out transportation. A lot of good jobs are located in places where there is no public transportation and everyone has a car. Sometimes there is paratransit, and sometimes car pools can be arranged once you know some other employees. But transportation is something major to consider before starting the internship."

You may have to do as much or more education in your internship as you do in other spheres of your life. Don't assume that, because an employer is open to having an intern with a disability that everyone is hip about how to treat you.

KL experienced some unfair treatment in a couple of her internships. In one, the director flatly refused to make accommodations. In another, staff members underestimated her abilities. "One time one told me I couldn't work with a client in a wheelchair because, since I use one, too, I wouldn't be able to lift him," she relates. "But I told her, 'I'm just teaching him to use the keyboard. I don't have to lift him for that.' People let disability take up all their perception of you."

But KL wisely adds, "You can't fight for everything. Tell the employer what you will need, and then prepare to find an alternative way of dealing with it, if you can't get it."

Go to Top of Page

Bookmark this article to: