Job descriptions provide an outline for the job’s design, including the responsibilities of the job, who should apply for the role, the possible rewards after being hired, and possibly other descriptions like motivations, team composition, and job compensation. I feel it is relevant to mention that some states require job compensation to be posted in the job description.
I wanted to talk about my own experience with job descriptions. I was the 2024-2025 President of the Associated General Contractors club for Oregon State University. Something that industry professionals would consistently ask me is, “What attracts students to an internship?”
What I’ve found through communicating with the student body and through my own experiences, I can confidently say that the fulfillment from an internship experience is what attracts students. Students don’t want to run coffees or print paper in their internships; they want to experience the actual work that they hope to one day be doing. Having students become somewhat integral to a team by the end of their internship is the best way to expose them to an industry and give them the experience that an internship should.
In my most recent internship, the job description mentioned that relatively menial tasks would be taken on by me. Still important, but the most common tasks for the industry I am working in now, construction management. However, something I learned in this internship experience, which I think would help someone in any industry, is to simply ask for more responsibilities. Feel like you’re done with your tasks midway through the day? Ask your supervisor to watch what they do and take some notes, maybe you’ll end up billing for millions of dollars like I did!