Internships are generally educational experiences that are designed to give the participant exposure to a future career. Summer internships are becoming more popular with nonprofit organizations that need help but have limited funding. For you, an internship is an excellent opportunity to try career, because instead of pay, you can structure an educational experience that might expose you to more experiences than a part-time or volunteer job. Many organizations use interns to help with special projects that they do not have staffer time to accomplish. As part of the educational experience, you probably will be required to write a paper, do a presentation, or complete an assigned project. Your high school or college also may grant academic credit for your internship, if it is approved ahead of time. You can locate internships by contacting the professional organizations or by calling an organization where you would like to work. If the organization does not have an internship program, ask to meet with a staff member who needs help with a special project, and submit a proposal for an educational experience that would help both you and your mentor. Who could resist a go-getter intern like that?
Don't forget to keep a record of exactly what you do as volunteer or part-timer. This experience will form the basis of a resume that you can use for later jobs. It will show your early commitment to your chosen career. Make sure that you keep up-to-date information about people you work with on the jobs who can provide references.
Find a Mentor
A quick and easy way to vicariously explore an eye care career—aside from reading about one—is to interview someone who is already in the job that interests you. Most health care careerists are in their chosen ''helping" profession because they like people and find what they do very rewarding. They are generally flattered to be asked to describe their career accomplishments.
Once you have found a likely role model—you might ask your guidance counselor to help with this—be sure you have prepared a list of questions that covers all of your concerns about your prospective career choice. It is a good ideate have some "ice breaker" topics to discuss first. Here are some possible questions:
- Why did you choose optometry?
- What are the positive and negative aspects of your job?
- Would you want your son or daughter to follow in your footsteps? Why?
- How do you balance a career in ophthalmology with family life?
- What was the most difficult part of starting your optometry business?
Virtual Eye Care Careers: Surfing The Net
If you are not computer literate or have never used the Internet, it is time to explore this new and existing resource. You might wonder why some of your friends talk about getting "hooked on internet', It is because it is so interesting and so much fun that you won't want to stop. And it's easier than you think to use it. You can get the training you need at school or check with your local library. Larger public libraries frequently have computers where you can learn and use the Internet. Much of the new computer software that is designed for accessing and searching the Internet is ''intuitive," or easy to use, with occasional reference to built-in "help" information.
Once you know how to access the Web, you will fad that typing in keywords that describe your area of interest into your search software will connect you with some of the most interesting sites that contain pages of information, including color photographs. This information can be downloaded into your personal computer and then printed. One of the marvels of the "information highway" or Internet is its unique ability to be interactive in real time. It's the next best thing to the telephone!
Other ways of experiencing the world of the eye care professional before you take the plunge is to read what they read. You can use the Internet to peruse the full text of many professional and scientific periodicals and documents without traveling to a university library. Many of the training programs provide information about their curriculums available on its web page. The professional organizations often provide credentialing or certification standards that are considered state-of-the-art skills for the profession you are interested in pursuing. You also can review the credentials and interests of faculty members who might become your role models. Sometimes it is possible to access the student's homework assignments or review their reading materials to get an idea of the scope and difficulty of a particular course.
Posting your resume on-line is a popular way to job hunt these days. You can compare your experience and plans with those of young professionals who are upwardly mobile.
Since Internet addresses change a lot, some of the resources may not be accessible bythe time you get to try them. It's hard to keep up, so our best advice is to learn to use a web browser or search engine so that you can select from everything that is available when you need it.
