Working For Abnormal Internships; What's The Chance?

FLORIDA — With it being the middle of internship season, many students across the country are looking for special opportunities to build up their experiences and resumes. That being said, while internship jobs vary depending on the job category, some internships are wild no matter how it's described.

From interning at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, a funeral home, prisons, overseas, art galleries with creepy environments or for famous rappers, it's safe to say that not all internships are filing paperwork and grabbing coffee.

An internship can be especially important to high school and college students, as well as recent graduates, so potentially having an abnormal internship can make future employers pay more attention to applicants.

According to an article by Melissa Shin, an editorial intern at INC, some different types of internships can include a counter-terrorism internship at Disney, a toy designer internship at LEGO or a Harry Potter writing internship at MuggleNet.

“While not all jobs can be exciting if your company cares to keep your pipeline of fresh young faces strong, you ought to try to make your company's internships at least a little fun,” Shin said.

It is not just Disney, LEGO and MuggleNet hiring interns. In a 2012 article written by USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent Kara Rose, applicants can become interns at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, Monster Energy, funeral homes and prisons.

Oddly enough, to be hired at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, applicants are judged on how weird they are, while at Monster Energy, selected interns to drink Monster Energy products, report back and receive $15,000 in return.

On the other hand, students looking into fashion design or makeup artistry sign up for funeral home internships to gain more experience at preparing dead bodies.

Internships at prisons are good stepping stones for criminology majors, criminal justice majors and those wishing to go to a police academy in the future.

Working in the jail system can be "very rewarding,” for graduate psychology students. according to the American Psychological Association.

Meanwhile, back in Gainesville, UF students find themselves in odd internships. Jo Ingram is a third-year painting major who currently interns at an art gallery called Moisturizer Gallery. Ingram’s tasks in this internship are to take donations at the door when there is a new exhibition or bands playing or to hang up/take down pieces, repaint the floor/walls and do general touch-ups.

While it does seem pretty normal, the weird art that Ingram sees on the job, and the big faceless doll that the gallery uses during its shows can be a little strange. Not to mention the creepy environment Moisturizer Gallery can give off at-first.

“To be honest, the first day I showed up there I thought I was going to be kidnapped. Because, you know, being an alone female walking into a dark warehouse,” Ingram said.

Internships do not have to be local, they can be in completely different countries or continents, making the experiences themselves unique compared to most internships. This year, gooverseas.com is offering 10 different international internship experiences to give students once-in-a-lifetime experiences. These

internship locations range from Peru, Africa, Grenada, Berlin, Lisbon, Rome and London.

Dale Speer is an alumnus of the Rainforest Conservation: Wildlife Research & Animal Husbandry in the Amazon. This internship helps save the Amazon with Hoja Nueva in Peru.

Speer recalls that when he was an intern for this program, sleeping past 7 a.m. was almost impossible.

“That's when the howler monkeys start, and it's quite hard to sleep in when they're close,” Speer said.

Meanwhile in the ocean, Jon Wright, a dive instructor and supervisor of the Marine Conservation Divemaster Training Program in the Caribbean, helps the conservation offer its divemaster with Caribbean Reef Buddy in Grenada internship.

This award-winning internship gets students involved with a wide range of activities such as reef

regeneration, reef monitoring and marine photography.

“For me it is really gratifying to see local staff get enthusiastic about conserving the underwater world and being part of their progression as professional divers, skippers and the conservationists of tomorrow,” Wright said.

With multiple different internships in Africa, alumni Noëlle Hamoe, photographing endangered animals in South Africa with an African Impact internship, absolutely loved this experience.

“I chose this program because I wanted to grow as a photographer in wildlife photography. African Impact was an organization that could give me not only a great place to stay but also the help I needed,” Hamoe said.

“Being in touch with them made me realize that there would also be critiques at least twice a week, something I was looking forward to. Also, the fact that we would be on many drives, having assignments and still be in a fun environment made me very happy,” she said.

While interning overseas may sound like the craziest opportunity, there's one even wilder, this of course, is being the intern of a global sensation, Chance the Rapper.

Back in 2017, Chance the Rapper tweeted that he was looking for a new intern, especially “someone with experience in putting together decks and writing proposals.”

While thousands applied, only one unsuspecting applicant received the job. This applicant was 22-year-old Negele Hospedales, a freshly graduated Canada native and longtime fan of Chance.

Hospedales was a bartender in Australia who made a website titled “Chance Hire Hospey,” to highlight his qualifications and previous work experience. This website became viral, so viral that a certain someone came across it.

After his bartending shift in Bondi Beach, Australia, Hospedales got a text from Chance at 3 a.m. offering him the job. The duties of Hostspedales varied from practical communication work to socializing with fellow rapper, Fonzworth Bentley or playing basketball with hip-hop group, Migos.

“Anything is possible by chasing your goals and doing what you love. Even further than that I guess, would be how much is made possible with this wonderful tool called the internet and it really is that a tool,” Hospedales said.

Whether it's working for Disney, an art gallery, overseas or for a famous rapper, internships have evolved past being known for exploiting college students for coffee runs and paperwork to file. Internships can now offer amazing experiences to young people who strive to chase goals and to do what they love.