In today’s world, you need experience to gain experience. Employers look for a relevant work history, while hiring candidates, whether that’s from internships or actual job experience.
If you are looking to gain experience, working as an intern is undoubtedly the best idea. Internship is an official program offered by an organization to help train and provide experience to students and recent graduates.
Whatever be your current level or desired career path, an internship can definitely encourage your professional growth.
Let us look at the top reasons why an internship is essential for professional development.
Internship helps in career development
An internship equips you with the experience of working in the real world, harnessing the skills, knowledge and theoretical practices learned in classrooms.
Internships expose you to the specific industries and companies that you are interested in, and you gain experience in the career field you wish to pursue. Internships provide a nice learning curve and boost your confidence levels. This experience helps you expand the professional skills for better career opportunities and sets the foundation for career growth.
Internships offer opportunities to transition into full-time positions. There are chances that employers, seeing your talents, capabilities and commitment, might hire you after the internship itself.
Internship gives an opportunity to learn more about your interests
Internship provides an opportunity to understand yourself, your goals and how to achieve them. An internship will help you learn about your abilities, your strengths and weaknesses.
If the reality does not meet your expectations, you can decide whether to continue or try a new career path.
It might also happen that you come across a new area that interests you. In that case, you can pursue that field along with the original career path.
Internship helps you develop professional networks
Networking is the exchange of information between individuals to form acquaintances and relationships to further your professional career.
Internships allow you to network with both new and seasoned professionals within your industry that can be very beneficial for your future career. You can get acquainted with their style of working, strategies, and efficiency and utilize them in the future. Bonds with other interns can help you obtain positions or get recommended for opportunities. Your chances to grow as a professional increase as you meet more people in the professional world with the same interest. For some of you, networking might be a stepping stone to bonus opportunities including a full-time job in the same organization.
Networking is a kind of a backup plan too. It may come handy later in your life.
Internship allows you to gain a competitive edge
The new skills and abilities acquired during internships are perfect to enhance your resume and convince your employer how valuable you would be for the organization. Internships also demonstrate your talents, commitment, drive and passion and how much you have been motivated to acquire experience outside of just university. A paid internship serves as an icing over the cake, as this experience highlights how your skill level contributed to you receiving a paid internship opportunity.
List all the tasks you have done and the projects you have participated in.
Internship instills Professionalism
Apart from business and technical knowledge, internships teach you the soft skills needed in the workplace and in leadership positions, which are essential for succeeding in any profession.
You learn to develop a collaborative work ethic and how to be a team player. Teamwork is a vital collaboration in a business corporation. You learn to work under pressure, meeting the deadlines. You develop communication skills that are an indispensable part of professional growth. With these skills, you can elevate your career to the next level. Responsibility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills are also learned during internship, which can be utilized in the future life.
Internship develops Character growth
Moral etiquettes are important to value an intern and his professional skills in an organization. Internship promotes qualities like honesty, integrity, and self-motivation while working in an organization. Your etiquettes get noticed in a short period. Be humble and indispensable. Character building during an internship plays a major role in upgrading your professional career.
Internship introduces you to workplace culture
Internship presents before you the general workplace culture, employee relations and the leadership structure. It teaches you how to maintain cordial relations with your future coworkers and how to communicate effectively with the management to make changes or ask for guidance. Getting an idea of how a professional workplace operates, makes it easy for you in your first professional job.
Internship is the building block for a successful career. It plays a crucial role in shaping your future. Internships provide real-life exposure to the corporate world and the opportunity to gain all-important skills essential for professional development. A golden opportunity to learn, internships lay a solid foundation to brighten your career and secure a stable position in the professional field.
Nehru colleges, Kerala offer internship opportunities to students, so that they can gain first-hand exposure of working in the real world.. Internships have proved beneficial to our students in brightening their professional careers.
