Internship at Brazelia Medical Spa in Boca Raton, FL - Essay Example

First Last Teacher’s INTRODUCTION An internship is an opportunity that a current or a recent graduate takes in an organization or a certain company in order to gain work experience for a given period of time. It is more of an exchange of services for experience between the student or graduate and the organization. Internships are generally short in duration, these ranges from 6 weeks to 12 months but can be shorter or longer depending on the organization involved or the institution requirement.

They may be paid, unpaid or partially paid depending on the organization. For my internship, I worked at Brazelia Medical Spa in Boca Raton, FL. It lasted 2 months from 9th March to 3rd May 2014. I used to work 19 hours per week. I worked at the insurance department, financial department and at the reception. My main responsibilities were: Organizing patients’ application in alphabetic order as it was a medical spa and we had different patients. Filling in the full details of every patient.

Putting the patients’ important details in a system. Confirming patients’ appointments. IMPORTANCE OF INTERNSHIP From this program I got a clear understanding of internships and I would say it is really advantageous as much as it has its fair share of disadvantages. Advantages It is an opportunity to gain experience, develop new skills and refine others. This is an avenue to put into practice what one has learnt in school and through this they get hands on experience in the particular industry.

From my experience I gained work experience, I developed new skills that I hadn’t even got in school and refined prior skills. Internship provides one with a chance to learn the mechanics of a particular field, through this one can ascertain whether or not the particular industry is of interest to them. I enjoyed my experience at Brazelia Medical Spa and this clearly confirmed to me that I was in the right career path. Internships act as a bridge between academic world and professional world.

As students, most of the time we fail to realize the realities of the working world. This is therefore an avenue to learn about its simplicities and complexities. My experience was an eye opener of the real world out there, which is the professional world. Through internship one acquires self-confidence. This is particularly so if the experience comes with motivation and encouragement from the experienced people in the field. One gets to know the running of the particular field and what is really expected of them and as a result get inspiration to become even more successful.

Internships are an excellent opportunity to obtain professional references as one actually starts their career. Through my experience I got a professional reference that is from the organization I was working with. This was good for me since I am now not restricted to solely educational references. Through internships one gets an opportunity to network with professionals in the given field. This is important for references and future job opportunities. At Brazelia Medical Spa, I was surrounded by professionals in the industry.

It was an opportunity to learn from everyone around me, ask questions and impress them with my eagerness. Internships also give a valuable addition to ones CV. This increases ones market value and as a result assist them in better marketing of themselves when looking for employment. Internships can be a transition into a job. Most employers see interns as prospective employees. One might finish their internship and end up being permanently absorbed into the organization. Internships tend to increase ones sense of responsibilities.

While working one has duties and responsibilities that they are required to do. This makes one become active in what they are doing thus bringing in a sense of responsibilities. During my internship, I had responsibilities assigned to me and I was required to perform them. This actually put me in check. Disadvantages. Some organizations take advantage of interns by making them do menial and tedious tasks that will in the long run not in any way enhance their skills. In some instances one is as a result stuck in a given department the entire period, this limits their exposure.

Some internships hinder ones progression in the professional world. This is as a result of an intern being taken advantage of and made to do pointless tasks which in no way add any knowledge and understanding about the industry or a particular position. Most of the time interns are moved from one department to another and are always seen as assistants rather than professionals. This means that they are only taught basic tasks that are of little or no value. Conclusion In a nutshell, practical attachment offers training opportunities to students thus forming the pillar and measure on which theoretical foundation of knowledge is evaluated against.

This practice should therefore be adopted as one way of enabling students relate their theoretical foundation of knowledge and skills to that of fieldwork. This can be a stepping stone to a successful professional career. One should ensure they learn everything they can about the industry, acquire as much skills and knowledge from the people who have already established themselves there and be ready give your best through the program. With this one can benefit a lot from an internship experience.

I can say my experience at Brazelia Medical Spa was worth the time. It built up confidence within me to feel as one of the real professionals in the field. The training fitted well within the context of my course.