Nuances of Internship
“You need experience to get experience” – Aristotle
Hearing things is very different from getting firsthand experience. An internship is the best example of this statement. Until you do not get a first hand working experience of a profile, whatever you have been hearing from different people cannot be truly believed, after all it is you who has to follow a career path and not anybody else. Let’s get to know all that you need to know about an “Internship”.
Meaning
An intern is a trainee who has signed on with an organization for a brief period. The goal of an internship is to gain work experience, occasionally some university credit and always an overall feel for the industry you are interning in.. It is a real life work experience where in you are not on the full time roll of the company but yet you get to gain knowledge about how different departments in an organization work.
Where can you intern?
- Multi National Companies
- Banks
- NGOs
- Schools
Who can be an intern?
Any student who is willing to work with an organization can be an intern. A few organizations have a fixed criterion for hiring interns but usually if you are a student with a diverse profile, companies give you a chance to work with them.
Time Duration
An internship can be as small as a week’s duration and can go as long as 6 months. Though keeping in mind your school curriculum, usually a 3-4 week internship is considered to be apt for your profile.
Importance of an internship!
While every student aspires of a 90% plus academic result, colleges and universities are not looking ONLY for marks. They are looking for an “X-Factor” which makes you stand out from the rest. Internship can be one of those factors because a practical work background carries a major significance.
- Real life experience and exposure
An association with a beneficial project, you gain first-hand exposure of the working in the real industrial world. It allows you to harness your skills, knowledge and witness yourself whatever you have been hearing about jobs and the work culture till date. It gives you a know-how about the practical aspect of the career that you have in mind.
If you are planning for international higher education, an internship in your desired country will be very beneficial. You will already have a knowhow of the cultural diversity that you had to face had you been admitted to the college. Post internship, when you join your course, your adjustment period to the new culture is pretty less and thus the productivity goes up from day one.
- An opportunity to explore yourself
Experiences make us! The internship that you undertake will not only encourage personal development but also a greater understanding of the self. You get a chance to explore how your dream job/career looks like in real life and if the expectations do not match with the reality, you will have ample time to choose some other course of action.
- Early Professional Network
While your peers will start making professional connections once they join a job, you will be on an added advantage as your professional network will already be flourishing even before you would have entered college. The earlier and stronger networking you have, the beneficial it is. These people could be the ones signing “letters of Recommendations” for you!
- A stronger CV
The CV that is submitted to the college/university at the time of application for a course is an extension of yourself and how you would want someone to perceive you. Experience holders of diversified fields are always welcome by the universities, because with your knowledge you are able to contribute better to the class learning environment.
- Improved confidence in professional environment
Having the first hand experience, you understand the work place jargons, office decorum, how to conduct yourself when with people, and what the company’s expectations from you are. Once you learn how to deliver what is expected from you in a professional setting, you learn how to stay focused and use more energy at the task in hand. This is beneficial not only when you join job post your higher education but also during your college life. You are better able to relate to your peers and that increases your performance.
That one internship you do over your summer vacation can be the winning difference between getting an application accepted and getting rejected.
How to find an internship?
You need to find out an internship that will be a value addition to your profile. Once in colleges, companies go for campus recruitment for interns. But while in school, you will have to apply yourself for internships.
- Companies post their requirements online and you can contact them directly.
- Intern hiring sites like Internshaala.com, freelancer.com, Chegg internships, LinkedIn and so on have ample intern opportunities listed with them. You can choose the ones that interest you and apply through these portals itself.
- References always work in this regard. If you have your parents or any of your relatives working with big MNCs, they can refer you as interns within their organization.
- Internships are available in a wide variety of fields in both private and not for profit sectors; they can be paid or unpaid. Getting in touch with your career counselor or talking to your faculty can also help in fetching you decent scholarships.
Role as an intern!
- Assisting in day to day tasks
- Performing clerical duties
- Managing social media
- Event handling
- Research is usually an important responsibility assigned to interns
- Brush up your own skills
- Job shadow of seniors
- Network and build professional connections
- Be sure about your career decision
Compensation
Internships usually offer some amount to the intern known as “STIPEND”. But if an internship offers you a good learning project but no compensation, don’t hesitate to take it. At your age, your learning and the experience matters the most. Just make sure you get recognized in some way for your work, this is most likely done by issuing you an “internship certificate”.
All in all you have nothing to lose when you join as an intern with any organization. All odds are in your favor and hence make sure to get a real life experience before you join the college for your higher studies.
