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[quote=Anonymous]I had various internships while I was in college -- think tanks, Capitol Hill, etc. and honestly, I wish I had worked a real job.

One thing that I have found is that an actual honest to god job job is more likely to yield you the kinds of experiences that you can talk about in actual job interviews in the future.  If you look at the sorts of questions people ask in job interviews (i.e.  Tell us about a time when you had a conflict with a coworker and how you resolved it;  Tell us about a time you had to implement an unpopular decision;  Tell us about a time when you had to work with others) they're looking for real-world experiences where you had some responsibility and had to work well with a boss and with coworkers, where you had to make decisions.  Being an RA for one person in a think tank doesn't really give you those experiences.

My kids have had lots of real world experiences as RA's, camp counselors, lifeguards, waitresses and this has given them the sorts of experiences that they can use to answer those types of questions in a job interview.  Look at the new foreign service exam.  The skills questionnaire or whatever it is asks questions about 'a time you had to work with someone from a different culture,' etc.  Having had an actual job probably provides a better set of experiences for answering those questions.[/quote]

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