Yes! Internships, student jobs – and volunteering, too! – are great ways to build your résumé. You gain valuable work experience, develop appropriate skills in your area of interest, build relationships with mentors and others who have the potential to assist you when you begin a serious job-search later on, and explore career paths to see if they truly fit your skills and abilities.
The best place to find a variety of good paying student jobs in any field, both on and off campus, is the UW Student Job Center. Another great campus resource is the Morgridge Center for Public Service for exploring a wide variety of volunteer opportunities and community outreach.
- Learn how you can get credit for your internship by taking Inter L&S 260
- Money for your internship
For more resources, visit SuccessWorks and Handshake
- Museums
- Libraries
- Public Service (Domestic & International)
- Communications
- Business
- Archaeological Field Schools
To start, you may want to review this comprehensive overview of all things museum-related: Museums Association
Local Internship Options
Local Volunteer Options
- Wisconsin Historical Museum
- Wisconsin Historical Society
- Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
- Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Other Internship Opportunities
- The Association of Art Museum Curators Internships and Fellowships directory
(this site isn’t maintained as well BUT it lists many museums, so just get to their sites and search on your own)
You may discover that if you put “Library internship” and the location you wish to find one into Google, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
In the meantime, here are a few to get you started:
There are many programs on campus to help you find internships or volunteer options!
- Morgridge Center for Public Service
- International Internship Program
- Wisconsin in Washington DC
- Study Abroad
- SuccessWorks Government, Policy, International Affairs, & Law site
- Department of Political Science internship board
- Local opportunities: Madison International Partners, Open Doors for Refugees, Community Shares
- Engage Chicago
- Public Affairs and Communications Postings in DC and surrounding communities
- Peace Corps
- Virtual Student Federal Service
- United Nations Internships
- Internship & Job Postings: School of Journalism and Mass Communication
- SuccessWorks Communications, Entertainment, & the Arts site
- Public Affairs and Communications Postings in DC and surrounding communities
In addition, consider writing and/or working for the Badger Herald or Daily Cardinal. You should also explore the television & radio stations, newspapers, and magazines around Madison.
Much like government work, the business world offers a wide variety of opportunities for liberal arts majors. You can find internships in companies large and small doing anything from marketing for Target to sales of athletic apparel for Nike, or working at major corporations like Pepsi or clothing stores like Free People and Anthropologie. If you’ve worked retail or customer services jobs, you have an idea of what the general public needs or wants; these experiences provide a foundation for a career if you let them. The search for this kind of work can be a little more time-consuming, but there are opportunities in Madison and just about every other major city you can think of.