Internships: Excellent kickstarts?
We’ve recently posted a couple of interviews that we’ve conducted with some of our interns, which managed to impress us during their internships, through a campaign called “Invest in Education”.
We’d like to reflect on that and underline some of the lessons that we’ve learned, focusing on how internships might be the perfect way to kickstart your career, and why they shouldn’t be frowned upon.
Businesses usually look for people with experience when hiring, real work experience. Fresh graduates or individuals just starting their careers have a couple of options at hand in order to obtain the necessary experience. Anywhere from side-gigs, volunteering, self-motivated projects, and our focus of today’s blog — internships.
However, a lot of young people look away from internships. They are often underpaid(if at all paid), and they take up more time than some side-projects that can still be a part of your “portfolio”. But these “cons” don’t outweigh the pros of average internships.
It’s understandable that graduates have certain expectations regarding their salary and position at their first job, but like with anything else in life, the most difficult part is the beginning.
Sometimes, having such high expectations of your first employment might be the thing holding you back. You should open up to the possibility that you still require some practical experience in your field before being able to do the job on your own. It’s nothing to be shy of, it’s just a realistic way of looking at things, and not in any way is it underestimating yourself.
That would be one of the biggest benefits of internships. They allow you to start doing work related to a job you’re interested in while having mentors, help from other employees, and far less pressure to always deliver high-quality results due to the understanding of your position as an intern! It brings with it great opportunity to learn, to get accustomed to the work environment, and prove to yourself, and the employer, that you’ve got the skills required for the job.
A common misconception is that internships are a waste of time. Usually, if you prove your worth, the company that has you doing the internship will offer you full-time employment after you complete it since they’ve personally mentored you into the position.
Through the interviews, a mutual benefit that all of our past interns have mentioned was the ability to put their theoretical knowledge to practice and finally work on real-world projects. That gave them the confidence that their skills are sufficient and boosted their morale into pursuing success within their branch! The first project, the first real assignment that tests your knowledge and lets you put all your past practice and learning to test, in order to gain the much-needed experience, is often overlooked, when indeed they offer you that stepping stone you’ve been looking for.
The opportunities that come with internships are plenty:
- gain valuable experience in your field
- work on real-world projects
- network with people
- meet the atmosphere of a work environment
- learn more with mentors
- prove your skills
- get offered a full-time job after the internship
Essentially, even if you are not offered work at the company you did the internship in, the experience that you gain through the process can be life-changing, as your CV is no longer empty, you’ve validated your skills and found places in which you should improve. The thought that internships are a waste of time that don’t bring any success is one that we’d like to wipe with this article since the benefits of internships are anything but few.
We hope this article breaks a stereotype or two about internships and opens up that option for you. Remember, success doesn’t come overnight, it’s made up of a lot of steps in the right direction, and we’re pretty sure internships are one of them!
If you’re interested in learning more about the experience our interns went through in their own internships, follow the link to our website blog: https://waltercode.com/invest-in-education/ or check #InternSpotlightWeek on our social media.
