Intern Profile: Alyssa Mueller

As a communication major, I knew I had a lot of career options available to me. I wasn't sure which area interested me most, so early on in my college career I decided internships were going be a helpful factor in guiding me down a career path.

As a sophomore, I took an internship with the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club in their nonprofit division. It was my first experience in the working world and allowed me to slowly get a feel for what type of job I could expect from my communication major. In planning events, writing documents for the company and taking care of clients, I was able to strengthen my organization and verbal skills.

I also had an opportunity to take on an international internship at Sports Impact, Ltd when I studied abroad my junior year in London, England. It was because I had interned previously and in an athletic field that I was placed in a sports public relations firm. There, I did more event planning and media content analysis. Not only did I experience new skills, but I experienced a completely different work culture that broadened my ideas.

As a senior, I took a news internship at WLUK FOX 11 hoping to see if I could handle the industry and gain skills. This was an extremely interactive environment that allowed me to write stories for newscasts, learn the video editing process and go out on interviews with reporters. Not only did I find I loved the environment and could accomplish the work load, but only 2 months into the internship I was offered the Weekend Desk Assistant position.

While I was expecting these internships to narrow my career path, they made me realize how capable I was of doing each of these different communication based careers, which was far more valuable. I can't promote real-world experience enough; internships not only prepare you for jobs, they can lead to one.