Is work experience more important than a degree?
Recent research shows almost 80% of recruiters consider work experience as one of the most important factor ahead of a good degree.
But you need “experience to get experience” – This is the biggest issue for young adults when trying to transition from school or college to work eco systems.
As a result, internships have become an essential way to help candidates make themselves stand out during interviews. It also helps candidates to choose their field of work.
Internships bridge this gap and provide you a way to transition from studies to work and gain exposure at work eco systems even while you are in school or college.
This guide is all about interships and how it can help you to build a successful career.
In today’s world, recruiters look for CVs that demonstrate relevant work experience such as having obtained an internship at a company.
An internship is an official program offered by organisations to provide work experience to students and recent graduates.
Importance of an internship for your future career
Getting work experience is an essential aspect of starting your career as a young graduate. Work experience is not just having an internship with a large organisation. You can get an internship at a small company or startup where you can gain valuable work experience as well as learning.
1.Opportunity to learn more about yourself
Learning about yourself is a vital part of growing up. Internship provides self-awareness which in turn helps you to identify areas of interest in your career exploration. It allows you to decide whether you fit into the current career path or do you want to try something else.
2.Provides real life experience and exposure
Internship allows you to gain real-life exposure and allows you to determine if you are in the right field. It also allows you to apply the skills and knowledge that you have acquired. It maximizes your understanding in the field and allows you to make connections in the professional world.
3.Expands your professional network
Having an internship benefits you a lot and provides a great environment to meet professionals in the career field you want to pursue. It is a place where you can practice networking skills through which you can find new job opportunities.
Internships can even provide you with a professional mentor to learn and start a career.
4.Enhances your resume
An excellent resume has the power to open doors. An internship provides you a chance to enhance your resume with no work experience. It creates a strong first impression with the employers.
5.Turning internships into a full-time position
Internship offers a valuable connection with the employers. You have an opportunity to showcase your talents, commitment and value to a prospective employer. If you use your internship wisely it might result in a full-time position.
Why internships look great on the resumes
Internships look very good on a resume because they’re part of your work experience. An internship is an opportunity to show a future employer that you have worked in a professional environment. It’s a better way to show the potential and what you have learned in such environments.
It is obvious that an entry-level candidate don’t have a lot of experience and hence a internship can offer you a great benefit since it resembles the kind of work and environment of a full-time job.
To make sure you are getting an internship that will look good on a resume, you can look into startups / small organizations. Because there’s so much to be done in growing a business and you will very likely have the opportunity to collaborate with high-level managers or the CEO.
This type of opportunity is extremely valuable because, proving that you can communicate well with anyone from entry-level employees to high level managers will make you a unique candidate in any applicant pool.
Types of internships
Type of Internship | Advantages |
Start up internships | Helps in getting expertise in your area of work and gives an overall view of how startups work |
Research Internships | Helps in pursuing a career in research and academics |
Management internships | Helps in getting a high level view of how organizations work |
Software Internships | Helps in getting a job in software, IT companies or start ups |
Industry / Manufacturing internships | Helps in getting a job in industry that relates to your area of study |
“The next best thing to starting up is to join a startup, work for a startup or even intern in a start-up
Few points to consider before doing an internship
1.Should you look only at internships with stipend?
It’s far easier for a graduate to gain employment after completion of their degree if they have some relevant industry work experience. Hence, internships are a great way to start building your professional network, develop skills and receive valuable feedback from professionals.
An important aspect of the internship is the compensation or stipend offered to an intern for their services in the company. It is always tough to decide between a unpaid internship and a paid internship. In these kind of circustances, you should evaluate your value and what you could achieve through this internship experience before you choose an internship.
Whether internships are paid or unpaid, graduates can obtain lots of advantages while applying for top companies.
It is always good to focus on learning and building skills. If it is a unpaid internship you can make up with a good job and salary. However you can make sure that the internship you choose is aligned to your career goals.
2.How about outcome based stipend or rewards?
As the name implies outcome based stipend is compensation that’s tied to employee’s contributions to a company. It minimizes the organization’s risk by ensuring that the desired output is obtained
Nowadays, outcome based internship are becoming the standard for start ups that offer internships.
To recruit the best young talent, one of the best ways to compensate an intern is to provide outcome based stipend.
3.Letter of recommendation (LOR)
Letter of recommendation will define your internship success and help you to acquire a job.
It is a document that is written by your manager and will highlight your work and achievements, the value you brought to the company, your strengths, leadership skills, dedication, ability to focus and ability to learn quickly.
A letter of recommendation from your internship is useful no matter which path you take, job or higher studies. It adds extra weight and merit to your job or college application.
Typical internship roles in a start up or software firm
The type of internship roles will differ from industry to industry, Below are few illustrative exmaples of internship roles in a start up or software firm
Internship roles | How does it help |
Content writing – Write content, blogs and insights that is helpful to existing and prospective customers | Improve your thinking and analytical abilities. Enhance your writing and presentation skills |
Video creation – Conceptualize and create videos that help existing and prospective customers | Learn conceptualizing, creating story boards, recording, editing and publishing video contents |
Social Media Marketing – Promote a product or service in social media with the objective of getting more customers | Learn how social media marketing impacts and improves business |
Selling – Pitch, give demo and sell a product or service to new customers | You improve the most important skill in life i.e. the selling skills |
UI/UX Designer – Design UI/UX. Test products to find bugs and suggest ideas for its further improvement | Learn more about design, testing and learn to think from the customers’ shoes. |
Coding and Programming – Help in creating or improving application, website and anything that has a code | Improve your logical thinking abilities and coding skills |
“ An internship with tangible contributions looks great on your CV”
Don’t miss IT..!!”
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