People change careers all the time. Maybe they learned a new skill and want to put it to use in the workplace. Maybe they want more flexibility, and so need to switch industries. Or maybe they’ve just outgrown their current career track. Whatever the reason, making a professional change at any stage of a career, in any field, is incredibly common.
Data shows that the average person changes jobs 12 different times during their lifetime. Now, of course, a job change isn’t necessarily the same thing as making a career change. There are several different definitions of a career change, and it may differ from person to person or generation to generation. For example, someone who has worked at a single company for 30 years may consider moving to a different company a career change. Moving to a management track in your field could also be considered a career change. However, the most common definition of a career change, and the one we’ll be primarily focusing on in this article, is one where you move from one type of work to a completely different type of work.
That’s not to say that there’s no data about the prevalence of career changes. An EdX survey in 2018 revealed that around a third of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44 have completely changed fields since starting their first job after college. That’s a huge number! And a more recent poll by Fast Company, conducted in 2022, found that over 50% of Americans are planning to make a job change, if not a full career change, in the next twelve months.
Starting a new career in any field can be challenging. Being new at something might make you nervous, especially if you’ve become an expert in one field already. But for many people, there’s also a financial barrier to making a career change. Data also shows that financial security is the main reason people don’t make a career or job change. Whether you need to go back to school to get a degree, take a course to learn a new skill, or take on an internship in your chosen industry, scholarships for career changers can go a long way toward making the change viable.
Every year The Intern Group awards grants to top-tier candidates from around the world and from across a wide variety of industries. We are always looking for candidates who are ambitious and globally-minded. After all, our ultimate goal is a world in which every person on the planet can realize their potential, and in which access to professional growth is equally accessible to everyone.
This year, we are offering two full-ride scholarships for career changers for our global virtual internship program. These scholarships will cover 100% of one of our remote internship programs in any of our available career fields.
These programs include a professional internship in your chosen field, for either 10, 20, 30, or 40 hours per week, depending on the intern’s preference and availability. It also includes our world-class career advancement training, which focuses on developing the eight key competencies essential to succeed in the 21st-century workforce. Interns will also get to learn from global business leaders, through keynote career talks.
We have available start dates for remote internships in July, August, September, and October 2022. Applications for our scholarships for career changes are open NOW until Monday, April 25th.