Experiential Learning Activities

One of the best ways to learn more about an occupation, a company, or an industry is to actually speak with someone who is in that profession, organization, or field. An informational interview is a focused fact-gathering session with a professional in a career that interests you. It is an excellent tool for any student, job-seeker, or career-changer to:

• Gather important information from industry experts on the realities of a particular career field or industry
• Learn more about the work environment or culture of an organization
• Discover the skills necessary to succeed within a particular profession and how to develop them
• Network with specialists within a field of interest and gain referrals to other professionals in the same field
• Practice your interviewing skills and build confidence for future interview opportunities
• Evaluate whether or not a particular career fits your interests, values, skills, and lifestyle.

Are you interested in gaining practical skills in a specific work environment or becoming involved in your community? Are you considering exploring a different career field or changing jobs? If your answer is “Yes!” to any of these questions, then you should consider volunteering. Volunteering is an excellent way to obtain exposure to a work field or setting without having to make a long-term commitment. 

Volunteering also has many benefits. As a Volunteer, you can:

• Discover new interests or passions unknown to you
• Build on your existing skills; develop new personal and work-related skills
• Enhance your education by getting hands-on experience in an organizational setting
• Network with individuals in an area that interests you
• Improve your resume and look more attractive to employers. Volunteering suggests that you are a team player—a quality that many employers look for in a potential employee
• Become connected with your community as a volunteer to make a difference!

Check out these sites for volunteer opportunities:

• VolunteerMatch
• HandsOn Twin Cities
• Minnesota Non Profit
• Idealist

According to the National Society for Experiential Education, an Internship is “A carefully monitored work or volunteer experience in which an individual has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning through the experience.”

Some of the key elements of an Internship are:

• An Internship provides on-site work-related experience in a career field of interest
• An Internship is supervised by a Site Supervisor. Student Interns create academic, professional, and personal goals, which the Site Supervisor consistently evaluates them on and provides feedback on throughout the internship experience
• Internships can be paid or non-paid; credit or non-credit

Hopefully, you are at the stage of making a decision about the major/career because of multiple experiential learning opportunities.

Check out the "Job Search Resources" tab on how to represent and communicate your skills and experiences developed from an experiential learning activity to an employer. The goal is to build a network with professionals and become job ready to pursue the career of your choice.