The Successful Internship

Book excerpt: In this concise new book, the authors describe the internship process, using the stages of anticipation, disillusionment, confrontation, competence, and culmination. Students learn to understand that an internship is an individual experience, the result of a complex interaction between the individuals and groups that make up the placement site and each individual intern. As the book progresses, the authors consider the issues and tasks that students must deal with at each stage of the internship, emphasizing the theme of self-understanding throughout. Students are encouraged to connect what they have learned about themselves with the shape and pace of their own internship experience.