College Internships – the biggest asset of any students who is planning to join the job market soon. Although the ideal of doing internships during summer vacations may not seem very appealing right now, but you will realize the worth of it when you go for final placements. Ask any senior on your college campus and they would tell you the importance of starting internships right from the first year in college. A lot of workplaces today require for their candidates to have some prior work experience. Some of them even make it a necessary condition.
But how would you as a college fresher have prior work experience. This is your first time at a job and yet you are required to have prior work experience. The only way to clear off this hurdle is have interned at various organizations during your college term. College summer and winter breaks are the best time for students to intern at any organization and gain some relevant work experience. But how do you find yourself the right kind of internship or how do you even land one.
Here are some tips to help you find the right internship in college for yourself -
Make Use Of Your Existing Network
This is one of the best ways to land yourself a good internship. You are still in your college that means very little or no connections to the professional world outside of college. Moreover, you are still figuring out your options and the fields you want to go in. In such a scenario its best to make use of all the resources available to you. And these include everyone from your professors, parents, other working family members, friends of family or any other contacts in the fields of work you are interested in. Sit with these people ask them about their work profiles, share your interest with them and try to analyze what field of work you want to try out. Once, that is figured ask your contact in the field to recommend you for an internship in their organization or some other place in the same field.
Look for opportunities online
In the digital world of today you can find almost everything online. So, why not look for some good internship opportunities online. Many organizations make online listings for open internship positions in their organizations. You can also register yourself at websites like Internshala.com, Internships.com, Indeed.com and many others that have dedicated internship listings from prestigious companies worldwide. You can also check career sections on the company websitefor the companies that you are interested to work with for open internship positions.Another option to join job boards or groups on social media sites like Facebook. Different work fields have dedicated job boards on such social networking sites. Also, make for yourself a LinkedIn account, it helps you have a professional identity for yourself on social network.
Be Ready To Sell Yourself
There are many cases in which an organization haven't had interns before. But for some or the other reason they are opening up their doors to them now. In such a scenario it is very important to market yourself the right way. Remember that it is both an unknown territory for both you and the organization. For since, they never had an intern before chances are high they might be unclear about the roles that you'd play in the work place. But this could also, prove to be an opportunity for you. Since the organization is just starting with the internship program chances are they are open to ideas and don't have a preset notion about interns. You can pitch in your ideas more creatively and also put across some strong points as to why they should hire you as an intern. Sell your skills, showcase any projects or achievements you have so far basically anything that would present you as a strong contender for the position.
In the organizations with internship programs running from a long period having to learn the art to sell yourself is far more important. As the competition in such companies is high and they straight away will ask you, ' why should they hire you as intern.' You need to be ready to pitch and sell your abilities and skills to add to the company's resources.
Be Flexible
The biggest requirement required of an intern is for them to be flexible. Remember that you are still in college and have a lot to learn, many skills to acquire to ready yourself for that first dream job. Since, you are not a professional companies would be investing time and resources to train you and they would push you around for that. You'd need to have a flexible attitude towards things to get yourself some good work opportunities.
There will be instances where you will find internship in places away from your city you'd have to decide what to do. You may even come across a lot of unpaid internships, and most of them would be offered by big organizations. But remember before you reject any offer whatever your reason might be always give it a second thought before sending across the final reply. Suppose you reject an internship because it is unpaid, but it is being offered by one of the most prestigious companies in your field. You are bound to lose more than what you'd get at any paid internship in a mediocre organization. Moreover, there is a high chance that if you perform at an internship the employers offer you entry level jobs upon completion of college.
Finally…
Interning at a good organization you would learn valuable skills and also make a good addition to your resume for when you apply for your first job after college. The aforementioned ways will help you to find the ideal college internship that will help you learn all the necessary skills required to take on the job market. In addition to this, the hands-on experience that you get during the summer internships or college internships will also make sure that you stand apart from other freshers. Follow these simple steps and sure would land yourself a good internship. For more such informative articles about college life and every day struggles of college students, visit www.jagranjosh.com/college.
