Everyone wants to be successful managers and move up the professional hierarchy as quickly as possible. Working hard and strategically gives one a great set of advantages. However an internship which has been underestimated by many has the ability to be a catalyst that differentiates between successful management and ordinary staff management. How one spends their school holidays can make a lot of difference later on in their life.
An internship is essentially an on-the-job training for college and university students before they enter a professional workforce after graduation. It is a springboard from college life to career life which paints a realistic picture for the intern within a short frame of commitment. Many students complain that an internship is an underpaid job however the advantages that stem out of an internship are infinite that override this mere shortcoming. From exposure to experience building to receiving opportunities to work in cross-disciplinary roles, the list goes on.
Any initial learner should venture out on a talent hunt to find the right job for his area of interest. An internship is not like any other typical job, but rather a learning process for an educated student to test his ability in the vicinity of his working environment which he is completely new to. Many claim that no learning is actually gained until theory is practised. The acquisition of theoretical knowledge is only advantageous when it is converted into useful skills in a practical business environment. Embarking on the existing opportunities is the best way to choose between what you like and do not like. The rewards an internship gives at the end of the day are endless. Let’s look at some of these benefits.
Experience
The biggest benefit is the experience the new learner gains in a workforce culture. An internship provides him with this opportunity for learning to occur, expand on one’s knowledge and discover new elements in a chosen field. The workforce culture is vastly different from a college or university environment that it is necessary for the young intern to gain the best experience. The internship helps him to become more viable when his classroom finally changes to a professional environment. The biggest gain from experience is professional maturity. The experience factor is closely related to the exposure as well. The practical exposure puts the reality of the real world in front the learner and gives him first-hand perspective. It enhances their vision to see things differently.
Building a good rapport
The next benefit is developing a good relationship at one’s workplace. Building a good relationship, especially with one’s employer may pave way in pushing one’s career and moving up the career ladder quicker than others. When a good rapport is built at work, it also increases confidence level which is vastly crucial for decision-making and developing strong teamwork skills that balances with individual responsibility.
Future job offers
An internship is also an exchange of services between the intern and the employer where there is a mutual benefit for both. Receiving a job offer at the end of the day is what every graduate is looking for. This is seen by many as the best reward of an internship. A good intern may receive an offer if proves himself worthy of sustaining a permanent job by working diligently during his internship period. Many companies use the idea of internships for recruitment efforts. Thus much internship opportunities are readily available to gauge the best candidates for full time positions. This helps the fresh graduate to have a job waiting right immediately after he leaves college.
Business contacts
It is frequently say that ‘it is not about what you know; it is about who you know’. It is essential to be well informed of a particular job but simultaneously one need to have a good set of industrial contacts to secure the best possible job in the market. Internships help one to make valuable business-related contacts and tap into a network of professionals and other relationships. These contacts assist one for future job offers and exploring other potential careers. The perks of any internship are unlimited. It encompasses benefits that one can even image.
Choosing cross-disciplinary roles
The golden benefit of an internship remains the fact that one can choose a completely different disciplinary role that is entirely unrelated to their academic field. A university student majoring in medicine has the opportunity to work as a sales and marketing intern in a business firm that helps to widen his horizon and give him a multi-dimensional approach. This not only gives him more exposure but helps him acquire a different set of skill that may be useful to his medicine field.
Academic credentials only go so far because most employers are looking for students with work-related experience and other transferable skills. An internship is indeed an invaluable reference inserted to one’s resume. It has the ability to give one more competitive edge and stand out from his peers. Lately employers are looking out for a full resume which includes real quality industrial experience. One should not try to leave an internship towards the final year of their study, but rather venture out on a number of internship experiences to attain all the benefits that come along with it.
This useful InternSG article is written by Roshni Kapur. Roshni has been writing for approximately three years, and has written for several online and printed publications such as Campus Magazine, India Se, debating websites and Show Magazine. If you will like to get in touch with Roshni, you can [encode_email email=”kapur.roshni@gmail.com” display=”email her here”].
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