BYU Social Services & Community Internships

Psychology Internship Opportunity:
Sex Offender Treatment Program
Utah State Prison, Draper, Utah

The SOTP internship has brought many opportunities to test and verify that I want to become a clinician.  I have served as a psychology technician for seventeen months in a real-time setting at the Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Utah State Prison.  During my tenure there I have developed and taught two sixteen-hour anger management classes and now teach an eight-week parenting class specifically geared to inmates.  Under the direction of psychologist Dr. Lisa Cloyd, my specific responsibilities also include completing/scoring inmate intake testing, conducting 90-minute inmate psychosocial interviews, and observing group therapy.

Yes, I was a bit nervous about the environment and the topic, but both have proved to be background issues as I have thrived in the real-time setting of psychological interventions.  Anyone serious about becoming a clinical or counseling psychologist should seriously consider this opportunity.

This internship experience has provided an opportunity to develop my interpersonal, teaching, and budding clinical skills in a real-world setting.  It has the additional benefit of being paid, giving you up to twenty hours a week of experience, and offering insight to the needs and challenges of an underserved population.

Please feel free to email me at marie@houseoforder.com if you want more details about my experiences.

Thanks for sharing Marie! The Prison will be holding interviews November 12th & 13th for two new positions. Go to the ‘Internship Opportunities’ link  in the ribbon at the top of this page for details.

We would love to hear about your internship experience as well. Please leave a comment here or email karen@byu.edu to request the opportunity to share the benefits and learning points from your recent internship experience!

The BYU Career Fair is Thursday, October 3, 2013 – THIS WEEK!

Don’t cross it off your to do list, just because you are not graduating in the next semester or two. The Career Fair can benefit you no matter how early or late in your degree program you are. Seniors need to be making connections with companies and recruiters to increase their chances of finding the right career after graduation, but underclassmen can benefit from the Career Fair as well. You should be discovering what opportunities are available to you with your Social Science major. There is a lot out there, but you will have to do the groundwork to make it happen. Your Social Science degree provides a broad, liberal arts degree, but it is up to you to market yourself appropriately to the organizations for which you would like to work.

Students have commonly benefitted from Career Fairs in the following ways:

1. Gathered information about careers
2. Learned about the hiring process for various organizations
3. Discovered which majors recruiters are willing to consider
4. Develop contacts for different career paths
5. Understand which internship experiences or volunteer work are recommended

However, just showing up to the Career Fair does not make it beneficial. You need to do a little research ahead of time. Look at the list of companies attending the fair, so you can have your customized list prioritized for who you want to make sure you connect with. (See the Career Services link for this and other important information: https://ucs.byu.edu/career-fair-main-page).

How to be ready for the Career Fair:

1. PRE-REGISTER on the Career Services website: https://ucs.byu.edu/students/career-fair
2. Do your homework.
3. Dress appropriately (as if you were going to an interview).
4. Prepare thoughtful questions for the recruiters.
5. Have your resume ready (and free of typos).

Represent you (and BYU) well!

I did a quick search of the A – C recruiters visiting the Career Fair, and found the following list of companies that might fit with your Social Science major and your career interests. Continue this search on your own and make a list customized for you.

When you think ahead to graduation, does that proverbial employment catch-22 ever worry you? You know, the whole “you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job?” Here is the best solution to breaking that vicious cycle: volunteer!

You can bolster your resume right now while you are in school. I know you are busy—you are registered for a full-time class load, you are working a 20-hour-per-week job, you have church calling responsibilities, and you definitely don’t want to miss out on the social life aspect of your BYU experience. Volunteering can be as little as 2 to 3 hours per month.

The Y Serve office (2330 WSC & 2010 WSC or https://yserve.byu.edu/) is a great resource and they make it so convenient. Get together with your roommates, home evening group, or make it a date night with a group of your friends. There are so many opportunities to volunteer within the community and there are so many different categories to choose from—all volunteer roads do not lead to the TOPS (Tutor Outreach Provo Schools) program … although it is a great program, just not for everyone. It is important to find the one that works best for you.

Here are just five ways volunteer experience can fill in the ‘holes’ in your resume and supplement your undergraduate degree:
1)      Discover your passion and determine the right career choice for you
2)      Gain experience in an organizational setting
3)      Develop new skills
4)      Build your network
5)      Make connections between coursework and how it applies to the real world

When referring to the benefits of volunteer experience, Dorothy Graham (Career Expert @ Bellevue University) said the following. “Now, this doesn’t mean that you should volunteer for purely career/personal gain. The key to a successful experience is to find an organization or cause that you truly believe in. Then look for ways you can use your skills and experience to help the organization achieve its objectives. That makes it a “win-win” situation—and could even lead to a job offer with the organization itself.”

Of course I think internship experience should be a high priority for every BYU undergrad, but you do not have

to register for internship ‘credit’ for your volunteer experiences to benefit you. Just look for opportunities to get involved, and then if you stick with it, you will have more and more opportunity to increase your responsibility and your positive impact on the world (and it will strengthen your resume along the way)!

(See a new volunteer opportunity available at the local Food Bank under the “Internship Opportunities” tab at the top of this page.)

It’s not too late! Fall semester is just around the corner, but there is no shortage of social service internship opportunities–depending on what your interest is. I just posted several paid and unpaid opportunities and the FHSS Internship Database has many more listed on it. Wasatch  Mental Health and Kids on the Move provide great opportunities in social work related experiences and family support opportunities. There are Residential Treatment Centers that offer paid jobs and provide great real-life experience if you are considering a therapy direction. If you would like an opportunity at a nonprofit organization or have an interest in Human Resources or Organizational Behavior, we can help you find something that would provide you with rich, meaningful experience for that as well. Whatever your interest, there is bound to be a great opportunity just waiting for you.

Whatever your future educational and career goals are, we can help! Stop by the FHSS Internship Office (945 SWKT) and search our Internship Database. I am glad to help you determine which internship opportunities would be the best fit for your fall schedule and your career interests.

It is possible to find and secure an internship after the semester starts, but starting earlier is ALWAYS better. WE CAN HELP YOU!!!

You may have noticed a recent post on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, (as well as under the ‘internship experiences’ link on this blog), advertising the great opportunity On-Campus Internships (in the Business School) provide for FHSS students. Maybe it sounded like a typo to you since it is administered in the Business School, but it definitely is NOT a mistake. You should absolutely, positively, unquestionably take note of this opportunity!

The On-Campus Internship program is an important option that is available to ALL students at BYU, but I think it is particularly beneficial to FHSS majors—who wouldn’t want to have 1 or 2 national/international companies listed under their resume ‘experience’ section to complement their social science degree???

All students in the FHSS College have the opportunity to gain a strong, liberal arts degree, but often employers are not familiar with the background and training provided to social science majors. That means it will be up to you to market yourself after graduation in a way that shows you are a good match for the job. An internship is critical in the process of becoming more marketable. The more internship experience you have, the better you can show a specific skill set proven in an applied setting. Internships help you make the connection between your classroom learning and real-world experience in an organizational setting.

The On-Campus Internship program in the Marriott School gives FHSS students the opportunity to work alongside a variety of majors on a project team and to hear and share different perspectives on the same work product—just like what happens in the real world after graduation! It also provides more ‘work experience’ on your resume, without having to leave campus to get it. The On-Campus Internship will not fulfill your major capstone credit, but it will count towards university elective credit—and more importantly, it will broaden your background and your level of experience which is difficult to accomplish while attending school full-time. The program expects 8 – 10 hours of time commitment from you each week, so it is totally doable in combination with your classes and part-time job–in fact, why not try more than one semester?

These projects cover a wide range of opportunities: from business to food science, web site development to social media, participating in the writing of books to running the BYU Touchdown club for the Athletic department, Document translation to data analysis, etc., etc. I’m happy to discuss the best projects for you in more detail if you would like.

You can find more information on the On-Campus Internship program by clicking on the ‘Internship Opportunities’ link on this blog to see a list of some of the possible projects you can choose from.

Here is a video that provides a quick and easy explanation of the OCI program: http://marriottschool.byu.edu/fieldstudies/student/oncampus/

Please consider fitting an On-Campus Internship into a semester of your regular major program before you graduate. You’ll be glad you did!

Since this is my first official internship blog post, I thought it appropriate to introduce myself and my mission. The FHSS Internship Office was created by the FHSS Dean’s Office to better serve FHSS majors. (How’s that for specific?) I am Karen Christensen, Family & Social Services Internship Coordinator, and I was assigned to specifically work with the following three undergrad majors: Psychology, Sociology, and SFL majors (but I am happy to assist any FHSS majors that are interested in learning more about internships).

We are conveniently located on the 9th floor of the SWKT (across from the Dean’s Office) in room 945, and we now have social media accounts! Follow us using the links in the right hand corner of the blog.

Adding us to your news feed will keep you in the loop and aware of future opportunities as they arise. You will also receive important educational and career information to help you better prepare for the real world upon graduation!

Look for new posts each week and receive real time announcements for new opportunities as soon as we hear about them via Twitter and Facebook. Our Pinterest account is still in its infancy stage, but we are excited about the possibilities available there in the near future. Of course LinkedIn is an important networking tool for you to start building now. I will be posting a new article every Tuesday on this blog including a variety of topics that will help you along your degree journey: the importance of internships; how to find the right opportunities; job search and career advice; what career directions does my major prepare me for; what does a really good internship experience look like, etc.

The purpose of the FHSS Internship Office is to provide a map for the road to your success! Your Bachelor’s Degree is important, but a great internship can make the difference in finding and succeeding in your chosen career—just as a map and a well-paved road can lead you to your destination.

I am passionate about helping students succeed! I want to help you gain confidence in your degree with real-world experience and by helping you identify the marketable skills you are gaining on your way to graduation.

Sometimes students are intimidated and decide not to participate in any extracurricular opportunities during their undergrad program. I can help you understand how to fit meaningful experiences into your schedule and integrate the right opportunities along the way. Come visit!

If you are still wondering how the FHSS Internship Office can help you,
here we are by the NUMBERS: