One of the perks of being in school is that you get exposed to a barrage of company visits. You may not definitely get the same in-depth experience that you would get in a school-arranged company tour if you went by yourself, and you most certainly will not get to visit a lot of organizations, because not everyone’s capable of conducting a tour. The Prague module had 9 company visits this Spring, for example. So why should you go on one anyway?
You will watch and learn
Enough with the lectures and presentations already! Time for some real-world stuff to engage your visual style of learning. Time to learn from new, non-academic individuals about what exactly goes on in the company. And if you visit a manufacturing unit or a factory, there’s gonna be stuff that you would find really cool. Promise.
You will make connections
No, I’m not talking only about networking. Enough with that already, although this is a great opportunity to make a contact in the company. Who knows, maybe it’ll develop into a job opportunity somewhere. The actual type of connection I’m referring to is the one where you can instantly link what you learned in class to a particular aspect of the company’s business. Makes you feel like Archimedes. Eureka!
You will get free samples
Oh yes. The BEST part. Who doesn’t like freebies! Isn’t that the reason why so many of us attend career fairs? Pastry samples at hotels, beer samples at breweries, a free earphone from the audio tour as a keepsake, free candy etc.
You will have fun
You need to get off-campus too. Ditch the laptop and the IBIC for a bit. Get out of your dorm room. It is a mini trip with the college gang! Maybe we need more of this in Glendale too? Cerreta Candy Company, Shamrock Farms, Karsten Manufacturing (PING Golf) anyone?