Intern to Learn

Summer internships are a rage among college students. Especially in the fields of sales and marketing, social media, content writing, banking and finance, HR and design. Internships are considered instrumental in cultivating qualities of patience, perseverence, dedication and discipline. Students today are taking up internships in their desired fields so that they can expose themselves to work ethics that will help them develop into better professionals.

Emphasising on the value of an internship to a student today, Sarvesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, Internshala says, "An internship allows students to apply classroom knowledge in real world situations. They also pick up skills like communication, teamwork, networking etc which are essential for professional success." Pursuing an intership allows students to experiment with different career tracks, for instance, an engineering student interns in content writing or marketing, before choosing a career path. Employers have their reasons to hire interns explains Agarwal. "Interns bring in energy and fresh perspectives to a business. They are quality, cost-effective talent which can get short projects done which in turn helps businesses." Internships are also an effective mechanism to evaluate a candidate over a longer period before extending an offer to join as a full time employee. More often than not interns are recruited to test their full time employability.

Avni Gupta, an intern at a bank says, "I am working with the retail banking team wherein my job is to research, collect, and analyse data. This internship is not only helping in giving my CV a boost but is also giving me an insight into the banking world." By interacting with other employees, Gupta feels that this experience has enhanced her people skills. Darshana Krishnamony who is a market research intern believes that her stint here has exposed her to varied market realities. "I am innovolved with qualitative research activities which require me to interact with consumers and record their feedback," she says. Being someone who wants to pursue a career in the creative domain, Krishnamony asserts that the internship gave her an opportunity to try out something different.

Talking about how the idea of initiating a venture that connects students and companies came about, Karthikeyan, CEO, Twenty19 says, "In my own life, I benefited immensely through an internship at General Motors. Here is where the idea of extending such internship opportunities to every college student was sown." Describing their Global Internship Programme (GIP), Malavika Jaggi, business development lead, Hellointern says, "The GIP is an initiative that enables Indian organisations to rope in talented interns from all over the world. This creates a two-way exchange of thoughts, learning and experience."

AISEC also runs an internship programme which provide businesses a tailored and reliable employer solution to increase their competitiveness. "There are a lot of companies in India itself, ranging form players like Tata Consultancy Services, Coca Cola, The Taj Hotels, to smaller and Medium enterprises that hire global talent from all across the world," informs Vir Bhan Saini, vice president, marketting and communications, AIESEC.

To sum up the the message that experts want to convey, one is reminded of Steve Jobs's advice to youngsters, "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."