We are so happy to highlight Nolon Davis for our Student/Internship Spotlight. Nolon is a regular in the O’Neill Career Hub. As a Cox Scholar, he works with our team on special projects and helps us to better serve the needs of our students. We caught up with Nolon when he returned to school last week and this is what he had to say about his internship experience.
What organization did you intern with this summer and what was your role?
This past summer I was an Intern at the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office in Lafayette, Indiana. Much of my time was spent doing ride alongs with some of the deputies where we would patrol around the county and respond to 911 calls or enforce traffic regulations. I also completed many training sessions related to law enforcement such as SWAT Training, K9 Training, Crisis Negotiation Training. When I wasn’t training with fellow officers, I helped Corrections Officers in the jail with day-to-day operations such as surveillance and inmate safety.
How do you think your internship prepared you for your future career?
Before I started my internship I was still unsure about what I truly wanted to do after I graduated and more importantly what career path I wanted to pursue. I had interest in finding a career in federal law enforcement and I believe that this internship really reinforced that interest. I learned the many ins and outs of what an LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) does on a daily basis. I was taught how to pull and complete reports, how to conduct investigations, and also the best ways to communicate with people in the community during calls for help. The professionals in this career field that I interacted with gave me very helpful information and advice on how to pursue the career that I wanted in the future.
How did you go about searching and applying for your internship?
Working at the O’Neill Career Hub, I had access to every internship that became available right when it was given to us. I would apply to any of them that interested me or pertained to my career field. I also went through Handshake and filtered internship postings to my preferences and went through and applied to those postings as well. While doing this, I networked with my coworkers inside the office as well as the Career Hub consultants to see if they knew of any internships that I would be interested in. They were able to help me find a majority of the internships that I would like to apply for as well as how to complete applications for federal postings as well.
What advice do you have for students looking for internships?
The best piece of advice that I can give is to not give up on your internship search and to not get discouraged when you do not receive an offer. I applied to maybe twenty or thirty internship applications and only received an interview for one. After a lengthy interview process it was disappointing to hear that they had offered another candidate. The internship that I did partake in caught me by surprise because I learned about it one day and accepted the offer the following day without an interview.
