What's the difference between a structured and unstructured internship?
“Hi Justine, in a previous blog post, you talked about structured and unstructured internships. What are those? And how do we know the difference?”
*question was translated and paraphrased from Taglish
Most people think of internships as either startup vs corporate vs government vs NGO, or finance vs sales vs marketing vs HR. And to some degree, those categories do matter. But for me, the most important way to categorize all internships you take is between:
Structured
Unstructured
So I tell my college-level students that if they can [meaning they have the time, energy, and resources], aim to get 1 of each at least before they graduate. Note that some internships are hybrids between the 2, so you’ll need to be critical when reviewing them.
Why should I go for these types of internships?
Because through those internships, you’ll learn what type of work environment you prefer or at least, can’t currently work in.
I think 1 problem a lot of fresh grads face is that they’re unsure on how to navigate their workplaces right away; it takes a while to adjust to it since it’s a completely different world compared to college. [Especially if you’re entering a workplace remotely. It becomes so much more difficult, and I am in awe of anyone and everyone who’s entering a new job during this pandemic.]
When you get early exposure via internships to different types of workplaces, it helps you better decide what questions to ask your interviewers and where your first job will be. You’re also better prepared on where are your current soft skills gaps that you can work on in your time remaining.
Also, whether you realize it or not, you already are going for these types of internships. You might not be consciously doing so, but if you look back on your previous experience [and look forward to your potential new experience], you’ll see which it falls under.
Related: What skills do you recommend I pick up via online courses? - #DearTBC
What’s the difference between unstructured and structured internships?
Unstructured internships [I’ll refer to it as UI from now on] are exactly what they sound like. There are no clear lines of communication for projects, problems, or people management. And there’s no program that tells you what’s your exact job description, projects, roles, and responsibilities. Which are the indicators of a good structured internship [which I’ll refer to as SI from now on].
In a UI, everyday is different. Normally, a startup is a classic example of what a UI is, where you’ll be asked to research something one day, create a new process the next day, and then handle customer service complaints the day after that. It’s always a surprise and you need to be ready for whatever they throw at you or ask of you.
One thing to note in that kind of environment is if you finish a project that wasn’t necessarily urgent or given to you by the team, it’s something you elected to do on your own, you also have to ensure that it gets cascaded to said team. Then you have to make sure they can and will make use of it, precisely because it wasn’t an urgent need. It was a nice-to-have for both you and them.
In a SI, you’ll eventually have a daily rhythm and workload that you’ll be used to. Normally, a large corporation with a named internship program is a classic example of what a SI is. There, you might have 1 project to manage all throughout your time, where you are in charge of pushing it forward, finding options, and making decisions with your boss or buddy. Or you might be onboarded on 1 process that you’ll handle end-to-end, be it monitoring machines / KPIs or transcribing and processing documents.
Main thing to note in that kind of environment is that if you feel you’re not being challenged enough or you want to do more, you need to ask your boss or buddy for more. Or to endorse you to another team for you to take on another project. You have to be proactive in these situations.
How do I, a college student, differentiate between them when applying?
It’s partly trial and error and partly asking the right questions during the interview. Reading through the job description is not always a good indicator since it could be vague for SIs since they might match you to a project when you get onboarded. For UIs, they might change the projects or workload for you on the spot, especially if they see that you’re quick at getting the job done.
The best bet is to ask in the interview, “What would my project/s be if ever? And what are the recommended skills to have to succeed?” That way they don’t realize right away what you’re fishing for.
Related: What's the most important part of a resume?
In conclusion...
Neither one is “better” or should be prioritized. Both of them are representative of what entry-level jobs are like. It’s your responsibility and decision though, on what kind of job and environment to put yourself in, knowing what you do about your work style, communication skills, and expectations of working life. Doing both types of internships just gives you better base knowledge to make that decision.
Working life won’t be as big a shock for you [it’ll still be big but we’re trying to lessen the impact] if you have this clearer, firsthand idea of what you’re in for post-graduation.
Hi! I’m Justine.
I’m the founder and writer of all things in The Bumpy Career and welcome to Internship FAQ’s, a slot for me to share things I’ve learned over the course of my internships (and probably early work years), so that you guys don’t have to trial and error this stuff like I did.
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