Internships are a fantastic opportunity to network with professionals and hone your skills before entering the workforce. They also help tremendously with figuring out your real passion and sometimes, even your true north.
The main goal of an internship is to provide one with real-time experience and exposure to make a smooth transition before getting hired. They can be paid or unpaid, depending on the company’s business size. Typically, faculty members place undergraduates in companies or organizations that best support your course an curriculum.
However, note that internships should usually be paid if the company is actively recruiting interns. If a company has an internship program, then it should also have the funding for it.
Tip: If the company is actively looking for interns, then the internship should be paid. But if you volunteered on your own even if they’re not looking for interns, then it’s acceptable for the internship to be unpaid.
Real World Experience: The Best Kind of Education
Rather than looking at it as unpaid internships or being unpaid interns, there’s a lot more that a student can gain by being an intern right before graduation and leaving the safe confines of a university. The benefits far outweigh the cons. For one, an organization or companies prepare undergraduates for their future careers.
Companies provide the platform for real world experiences with real world problems. Students gain real work experience and relevant skills that you will never learn from the classroom. You might probably be assigned to a support group where your fresh ideas are valued.
Better yet, you will have the opportunity of a lifetime and may be assigned to lead an account or a project that is aligned to your particular field of study, curriculum, or just your interest. For example, you can be tasked to develop, alongside a team, a campaign strategy that will enhace your learning experience.
Ultimately, students’ motivation, apart from the real life experience and academic credit, is to ensure that interns make the most out of their time when they are undergoing these programs. Make sure you are relevant enough for employers to notice you as it may land you a full time work and employment right after grauation.
Whether its unpaid internships or paid internships, being in a program is Education in Real World. It is Education in Action.
Here are the different ways that internships can help your qualifications improve for your professional journey:
Apply valuable knowledge in the real world
Internships offer students the opportunity to put everything that they are learning into action in a real-world environment. This helps you improve your understanding of the theories and strategies you have been studying, further enhancing the learning process and giving you greater focus.
Not only can you apply knowledge and theories from classroom discussions to the workplace, but you will gain other practical and professional skills. You will learn how to be professional and accountable, and take initiative in your tasks and goals.
Expand skills
Your internship program should be conducted by a supervisor who is dedicated to the development of another individual. This leader must be willing to spend time on the details of the intern’s role and guide them back on course when they get off track.
The intern must complete their internship as someone who is more equipped to be a professional.
If possible, try to find a mentor during your internship, whether they’re inside or outside the company you’ll be working for. Your mentor can provide valuable feedback to you during your internship and as you make your transition into conventional, full-time employment.
Develop professional network and connections
There are rare networking opportunities that are as powerful as internships. They introduce you to professionals at all levels and from numerous departments or niches. Keep in mind that the relationships you cultivate during your internship will be vital, especially when you find references for the best job opportunities and as you develop your careers.
Make new friends
An internship is also a great opportunity to meet new friends. Make sure to establish and build positive relationships with the people you’ll meet during your internship. Whether they’re regularized employees or your co-interns, there should be someone who can be your buddy throughout the OJT journey, and hopefully, beyond.
Boost your resume
An internship is a job experience that enables you to fill out your resume with honesty and particularity. Getting an internship can also improve your resume’s credibility, as you could add the duties and projects from your internship to fill your resume with professional experience.
Having an internship can also give you an idea of the duties in your industry, which could help you have a clearer idea of your career objectives, especially the ones that you will put on your resume.
Build confidence
The season between your undergraduate studies and employment can fill you with excitement, fear, hope, and dreams all at the same time. An internship can give you more time before going out in the real world finding a permanent job and help you apply the skills and knowledge you have acquired in a professional setting.
Interns can also observe how a company or their industry operates and witness it real-time. They can also learn a lot of soft skills through their peers and the employees in the company that are not taught in school or you never practiced anyway, such as time management, discipline, the capacity to be great at working alone and collaborating with others, and even leadership skills.
Working on traits like these during an internship could tremendously help in building an intern’s confidence, which they can bring to their future careers.
Discover one’s career path
During your undergraduate years, you will study different courses that help you determine your interests. Some people benefit from getting a college degree as it helps them figure out what kind of career they want to have; for others, studying in college gives them more time to gain various skills and experiences that could help them become multipotentialites with different career options.
An internship can give you job experience by introducing you to daily tasks and responsibilities without a firm commitment to its specific career track. It can also help you decide which certain jobs fit your personality and your talents and allow you to meet people who can give you career advice and guidance.
Whether you’re looking for companies to start your internship or already taking it, remember to take note of these points as they will positively impact your professional journey.
So, get ready with your best internship outfit, breathe, and step into the internship of your dreams. You got this!
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