Internships are not just a good idea, they are critical to your career success. Here are 5 reasons why they are important:

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Employers want to see experience—Classroom knowledge is essential, but employers also want to see work experience on your resume. They want to know that you can be a part of a team, have leadership skills and can work on real-world projects.

Focus your career direction —Internships give you a chance to try out what you have been learning in the classroom. For example, you may think that you want to work in a marketing role and do an internship in that area. Then, you discover it’s not a fit.  It is better to learn this before you graduate or before you end up in a field that is not right for you.

Learn Adaptability—Internships give you an opportunity to meet a variety of supervisors with different management styles. Learning to adjust to various approaches is a helpful experience as you will get a better understanding of how to be effective in a full-time position.

Strengthen your resume—The more experience you have the more likely your resume is to attract an employer. Having an internship will also give you more to talk about in an interview.

Build your network—You will meet people when you do an internship that will be able to provide references and suggest other opportunities.

Internships are a great career builder.