The Starting of GIS Internship

 So, for the past few months I have polished up my resume, to make the perfect GIS resume. First step checked! I then went on the hunt for my internship opportunities. This step at first seemed promising. I looked into my local government GIS jobs. I have a few counties surrounding me, so I figured my chances were looking good. I looked up environmental agencies that were nearby or would possibly be open to remote, however I was hoping for in person experience. I also looked into any development companies nearby. I made sure to make my list of what I had found. Second step checked! I then started to reach out, checking first their job boards and if nothing then I reached out to the HR departments asking if they would be willing to take on a GIS student for an internship. I did my daily searches on sites such as Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Jobs2Careers and so on. Unfortunately, I was not having much luck. There weren't too many opportunities in my area. Also, if there was an internship in my area GIS related it was sadly for the summertime. Third step checked with a bit of discouragement. Final one of the county offices head of GIS reached out to me and said that they were going to be opening a GIS intern position and gave me the link to send my resume. My spirits were high in this moment, and I thought for sure this was it. But our internship semester has started, and the position has yet to be opened. The head of GIS department reached out saying he is waiting on HR and doesn't know when it will be opened. So, I decided I will continue to wait for it, but also in the meantime I am still looking for other opportunities. I have even applied to jobs that were entry level, because you never know if you don't try. I decided I will be part of the group 2 in the Internship class that earns their internship hours through completing courses on Esri. I have already started completing the Esri courses. Step four checked!

I have joined a few GIS user groups to help with the process of becoming part of the GIS world. I joined one that is a little more local to me that will allow me to be able to do some social networking. This could lead to me moving from GIS student to GIS professional. This group is Tampa Bay GIS Users Group Connect with TBGIS. There is a lot of helping out and getting involved with your community as well. These groups are a great outlet to continued learning and keeping up with what is current and being a part of a community.