<p>With such an economic turmoil we are in, I know that acquiring an internship position has become very close to mandatory in order to gain a future full-time employment after graduation.</p>
<p>However, if one is to choose an part-time position that is somewhat related to his/her career pathway, do you think that is just as good as say being an intern for a somewhat recognized financial company? Afterall, the whole purpose of internship is to gain experience and to preview what your next 30, 40 years of life will be like (assuming you don't have any significant plan of changing career). So for example, for a student planning to go into accounting field, would acquiring a related part-time job at a small company (between 1 to 50 employees) in the accounting department (working with A/R, A/P, Tax, Designing a system using Excel or other computer software, other general clerical work) and working for the entire school year(s) with marked progress and advancement in the company be viewed just as impressive as say being a Summer Intern at a prestigious firm such as one of the Big 4?</p>
<p>In my opinion, I think it would work well. Of course, I'd ask recruiters if they'd prefer students with prior internship experience or related full time employment experience. The latter to me, if I were a recruiter sounds better. </p>
<p>I'm thinking of majoring in Accounting, yet I'm interning at City Hall and not in their Finance Department, but the experience and basic skills are still transferable.. .</p>
<p>Try to get a career-related or office part-time job during the school year and internships in the summer. You will need those administrative and computer skills after graduation.</p>
<p>so would it hurt to get an engineering internship after freshman year, then change majors to economics sophomore year and try to go into banking/consulting? would potential internship interviewers be like "you didnt do a business/banking internship, so you're out of luck", or would they look upon your internship well, and just notice that although it wasnt in the banking/consulting area, it still was a valuable experience? basically, would you be penalized if you're not right on top of the ball from day 1, or would they understand that you're still trying to figure out what you want to do as a career?</p>