Internship

Internship is an opportunity to integrate career-related experiences into an educational program/course by participating in a supervised work. Internships help students try out a new career. Many college students opt for internships to get relevant experience in their career choice so that when they go out in the industry they will have enough knowledge about the various technical areas. It helps to gain hands-on knowledge. It can be of paid or unpaid form.

Internship programs benefit the students in the following ways:

• Test career choices
• Gain hands-on experience
• Learn to work as a part of a team
• Increase marketability skills and develop self-confidence
• Provide networking contacts

Internship programs benefits the employers in the following ways:

• Can evaluate student for full-time employment
• Cost effective
• Get new and creative ideas for the company

In some companies if the students perform extremely well the company might employ them in their company after they finish their education course. In this way internships help student to get jobs easily. These programs add value to a student’s resume. It will also help them to improve their self-confidence, communication skills, problem solving, interpersonal skills, and presentation skills. They become more familiar with the work experience in their career interest. Some employers are more concerned about the work experience than qualifications, these internships help to get experience. Therefore it is a good choice to indulge in interns.  If a student is not sure of which career field to choose doing an internship may clear the student’s doubt. If he or she is not interested in that field then they may reconsider and try doing some other job.

These are also a great way for networking. The student will get to know many experienced professionals in their field. When they require any job assistance in the future they can contact these people for help. It is not necessary to make a huge number of contacts but profitable relationships. Getting experience is a great way to gain confidence. First time job seekers and candidates with no experience at all are less desirable, whereas a candidate with internship experience may be more valued over those candidates.

Review Questions:

• What is internship?
• Why are the advantages of doing an internship program?
• In what ways does an internship benefit the students and the employees?