by Sachitra Rowlo, Intern at Genie
The change and development of life’s journey from a student to a working professional has not always been simple. Students often face challenges while entering professional life, for instance, adjusting as per the work culture of the workplace and into a business environment. This is where internships come into picture.
Internships has always been a great opportunity for freshers in universities or colleges. Before we get into the benefits or power of an internship and ways to get one, let's understand what an internship means. An internship is often referred to as a work placement for a short-term period in a firm, they can be paid or unpaid. In other words, it's a work-based learning of work-related skills so that students can experience what it's like to work in a certain industry or field.
Now let's get into the benefits of doing an internship...
1. Classroom Learning Comes to action.
Internships are always a great opportunity to put practical and theoretical concepts into action in the new world of work. Integrating the theoretical knowledge to a real-life business to better understand and put the theory into practical use. At the same time, while applying the theoretical or learnt skills, you can also develop additional skills that cannot be taught in a classroom.
2. Establish and Build New Networks
Opting for an internship is a beneficial opportunity for establishing and connecting with newer networks which helps in building professional connections before graduating, which at times also leads to the opportunity of getting a full-time employment within the same organization as well as becoming more appealing as a prospective employee to other organisations.
3. Test-drive Your Chosen Field
It's a golden opportunity to understand if you would like to work in your chosen field or industry. For instance, very often individuals, especially university graduates who enter the professional workplace without doing an internship initially realise that the field they are currently pursuing does not appeal to them as they begin their professional life. So, in that case, participating in internships would benefit an individual to get the actual taste of the professional experience in the specific field before committing to pursue it further.
4. Spices Up Your Resume
We often hear that university graduates struggle to find a job or to be employed as most organizations require at least some work experience. So, an internship is a great chance to acquire some real-world experience which also beefs up your resume as employers would like to see what professional skills you bring to the table. Your resume would not only be filled with the experience, but also the skills you have gained along with your achievements. Giving you the competitive advantage of getting a permanent position.
Now let's dive into what to prepare to secure that elusive internship!
1. Create a Convincing Resume
Firstly, it would be beneficial to develop a resume. You can either create one manually or use modern templates that many websites offer for free on the internet. It would also be better to add why you would like to intern at the firm or a "why you should hire me" section as well. Ensure that you know the details about the organization you are applying to and what they are looking for in an intern while creating your resume. Although many companies may demand experience you can still get an internship, let me tell you how in the next point.
2. Learn New Skills Through Online Courses
Due to the pandemic, there has been loads of online courses paid and unpaid, this is one of the greatest opportunities and aspects to add into your resume as a student looking for an internship without any experience. Adding an additional achievement or skills (Online courses) showcases the individual has also taken time off to personally develop themselves and learn a new skill while internship opportunities were down. So, online courses act as an alternative since you don't have any experience yet. In other cases, you could try volunteering as well if you would like to put forth something in your experience section.
3. Create a LinkedIn
Nowadays, having a LinkedIn Profile is a competitive advantage for you when applying for not only internships but for jobs as well, and LinkedIn would be beneficial as not many students especially University freshers would have one. Creating one will help the organization to know more about you, being a great way to find internships as per your field and interests plus you can also create job alerts as well. Remember networking mentioned before? LinkedIn is a great platform to network and create connections with people, this may benefit you in getting an internship by reaching out to recruiters as well. Most importantly make sure you add an ‘about me’ section in your profile as well as adding your skills, education, and other useful information.
Internships help to boost the ability to develop your skills, promote personal growth and development while gaining industry exposure whilst gaining some valuable experience before stepping into the full-time corporate world.