Importance of an Internship

Individuals from different sections of the society often see to get confused with their present career interest or worry about their career goals or want to give shape to their career after a gap. For them, internship exposure can be one of the ways to structure their career.

• A recent college graduate who could not get a job through college placement and whose resume lacks professional experience can start their career with internship.
• A mother who took a break from her career to take care of her child and want to start her career again, can join any organisation as an intern to update herself about the market.
• Internship can be a good strategy for an individual who in his late 30s is planning to switch careers to convert his interest as his profession.

4 ways college students benefit from internships

• 1. Students can apply their classroom learning in professional environments

• Students can gain exposure to their chosen field

• Students can establish critical networking connections

• Students can gain coveted work experience

“Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”

Shah Rukh Khan

Internships are not limited to college students. Anyone seeking a career change will find that internships introduce them to a new career, help them to explore different skills, and prepare them for new experiences. For college students, summertime is an ideal opportunity to explore career interests while still in school but not actively involved with classroom and homework requirements.

Reasons Why An Internship is Important to All Students

• Application of education and career exploration. Internships are a great way to apply the knowledge from the classroom to real-world experience. Learning is one thing, but taking those skills into the workforce and applying them is a great way to explore different career paths and specializations that suit individual interests.
• Gain experience and increase marketability. Having an internship gives you experience in the career field you want to pursue. Not only does this give individuals an edge over other candidates when applying for jobs, it also prepares them for what to expect in their field and increases confidence in their work.
• Learn how a professional workplace operates. Depending on your major, you may read about how organizations thrive and function in textbooks, hear from guest speakers who talk about organizational structures, or dive into case studies about workplace culture, but nothing compares to living the actual experience.
• Professionalism. Internships can provide students with the soft skills needed in the workplace and in leadership positions. In a LinkedIn Skills Report (2018), 57% of people rated soft skills as being more important than technical skills. Skills, such as communication, leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork can all be learned through an internship and utilized beyond that experience.
• Build your resume. Most organizations and jobs that you apply to following graduation want employees to have some sort of professional experience, even for entry-level jobs. In the event that you are a finalist for a position and haven’t had an internship experience but the other finalist has, you may lose out on a job opportunity, so make sure you at least have one internship on your resume before leaving college to give you a leg up on the competition.
• Figure out what you like and don’t like. While everyone probably wants to walk away from an internship feeling excited and passionate about the experience, there’s a silver-lining to be found if you didn’t enjoy the job: you’ll know what you don’t like. According to an article from monster.com, “figuring out what type of job you don’t want while you’re interning can help prevent you from accepting an ill-fitting job when you graduate.”