Internships help students manage time, discover new opportunities 

Balancing schoolwork with social life is something every college student has to manage. Adding a part-time internship into the mix may seem daunting, but some students have found that having an internship during the school year can help develop better time management skills, provide practical experience within their field of interest and build their network.

Sidney Schmaltz, a junior marketing and law criminal, justice and society major, is a marketing intern at Pitt Athletics this year. Schmaltz said she went into the position expecting to develop her advertising skills, but instead discovered a passion for sports management and law. 

“I came in thinking I wanted to do marketing, and I love my job, but through the different kinds of tasks we’ve gotten to do, I’ve been able to get a good grip on, ‘Okay, I really enjoy doing this thing, I really don’t enjoy this as much,’” Schmaltz said.

After graduation, Schmaltz hopes to go into a compliance or agent role within sports law.

“[My internship has] been really helpful in figuring out that I want to go more the law route, but knowing that I still definitely want to be involved in sports, because I love those big moments and just sports in general.”

In addition to defining her career path, Schmaltz said she thinks having more commitments helped her manage her time better. 

“I find it easier, because I know if I have an event that night, I have to get my work done before otherwise it’s not going to get done,” Schmaltz said.

Some drawbacks of the internship that Schmaltz observed were the levels of time commitment it requires and forfeiting student experiences to work behind the scenes.

“I have to miss out on sometimes the bigger events, like the West Virginia game. It’s just sometimes not getting to be a part of things that I would have on a student side,” Schmaltz said.

Despite her responsibilities, Schmaltz said the benefits of having an internship “way outweigh the cons.” In particular, Schmaltz said her roles on campus helped build her professional and personal network as an out-of-state student.

“That’s definitely the number one perk — the people I get to meet and interact with on a day-to-day basis,” Schmaltz said. “It’s definitely helped me get a good handle on making it feel like this is my home, and building my own connections in my career and personal connections as well.”

Cassidy Urbancic, a junior communications and public and professional writing major, is an intern at the public relations company Green Dot Communications. 

To balance the workload, Urbancic said she started designating specific hours for either her school and internship work throughout her day.

“I try to only work on schoolwork during the school day, and then after that, work on my internship,” Urbancic said. “At school, I’m doing a lot of writing and analyzing things. But with my internship, I have to focus more on a different style of writing.”

Pitt requires PPW majors like Urbancic to have an internship and enroll in the Internship in PPW course. The class is “designed to give students a productive, substantive writing experience where they will learn from and contribute to the sponsoring agency or project,” according to the course catalog. Not all departments require practical experience.

Jeff Heinzl, an assistant professor and internship coordinator for the English department, said there are “almost endless possibilities” offered for students both at Pitt and externally. 

“I think every organization needs good writers, and they’re interested in helping develop young writers to succeed in all kinds of different fields,” Heinzl said. 

Besides internships within the English department, past interns have worked with PNC Bank, Acrisure Stadium, PublicSource, The Allegheny Front, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, the National Book Foundation and the STEM Coding Lab.

For other fields of interest, the Career Center at Pitt features a master list of internship databases and sources by department. Other professional development resources through the center include the Fall Career & Internship Fair and a Career Closet where students can make appointments to borrow professional attire.

Heinzl said departments at Pitt that offer and coordinate internships help ensure students are having a productive experience. 

“Especially if you get credit through that department, a lot of times we’re going to be checking in to make sure that that internship site isn’t taking advantage of the student, in terms of just asking them to fetch coffee constantly, or just be someone’s personal assistant in a way that doesn’t actually help them get the education and the skills that they want to learn,” Heinzl said.

For external opportunities, Urbancic said she thinks students should choose an internship that has a supportive environment. 

“Because it is the bottom end work, you’re maybe not getting as much experience as you want, so you kind of have to find an internship that allows you to do stuff,” Urbancic said. “You also have to find an internship where you’re allowed to fail at first.”

For students interested in working in professional communications, Urbancic said she believes having an internship on their resume is key.

“My classes can only help me so much, since I want to pursue a job in PR and marketing.” Urbancic said. “Getting physical experience in the industry is going to be my golden ticket into the industry.”

Heinzl agreed that an internship can offer “on the ground experience” that employers are looking for. 

“Having an internship is a nice way of getting a little bit of that under your belt before you graduate, and then that’s an asset that you can use when you apply for jobs,” Heinzl said.

To get started, Heinzl suggested that students reach out early to employers and be proactive about opportunities. 

“If you’re planning to have an internship in the summer, this is actually a great time right now to start thinking about what you want that internship to look like,” Heinzl said. “If the internship [you] want isn’t available in any of those places, I would say be active and reach out and see if you can piece something together on your own.”

Urbancic said she believes securing the first internship is essential for future offers.

“No matter what type of internship you have, as long as you get that foot in the door, you can keep taking steps into it and just keep walking through,” Urbancic said.