Some say doing internships can add up as an experience on your resume if you are a just graduate. Some say internships are hard to find and hard to do. Whatever your background might be either you are a freelancer, writer, software developer etc. internships are important not just because you can improve your core skills but also because you can develop non-academic skills which will assist you later in your job life or personal life.
Internships are more or little like finding a real job. They are hard to get into but it is totally worth the hard work and the time you put into. What are those soft skills or non-academic skills you develop subconsciously doing internships?
- Apply your theory
- Understand the benefits of networking
- Get familiar with work place culture
- Boost your confidence
- Develop good communication
- Understand the importance of taking on feedback
Internships are designed in such a way that you across every related situation to your core subject and sometimes you need to go beyond horizon. If you are yet to become an intern and want to try internships, then we have a few internship platform recommendations for you. But before,
Apply your theory
If you are an Indian or even had a little experience studying in India, you would understand better what I am talking about. In India while schooling you do not get a chance to apply practically what you have learnt. Because you are given a lot of other work to work on, except in one of those major colleges and universities. You grew up in a culture where your marks and mark sheets are important rather than what you have learnt, all your parents just need is your marks on a sheet of paper. They will go to any extent to make you score high marks, it doesn’t matter whether you have scored those marks genuinely or the marks that came from copying others answers.
But here in internships you will apply all that learnt content in the real world projects besides you will also learn new things which you haven’t learnt in your schooling years. And the one who go beyond horizon is the one who bags full-time employment in the particular company.
Understand the benefits of networking
While you were in your graduation years they say focus on building your dreams, of course that should be true. There are colleges and universities which restrict conversations between opposite genders, the culture here in India is entirely different where people think in different ways if they see a boy and a girl talking to each other. But for successful career you need to talk to each other, you need to network with different people. Different in the sense not just in genders but also different people carrying different talents, mentality, character etc.
You might have grew up in such a culture where you do not even know how to start conversation with your opposite gender or you might be career-minded person who is an introvert. But in internships you almost have to network with everyone in the office, to get your assigned work done. Because you are an intern who is inclined towards learning new and as an intern you have to do everything even though if the assigned work is not your core part of work.
Get familiar with work place culture
You might have heard employees saying that their new office space is amazing and you immediately start thinking they are the luckiest people because they are getting paid high, working in air-conditioned rooms in a big city etc. etc. but if you dig deep into their daily routine in their offices can be heart breaking. Because they will have work pressure, they have to work in the constant place for the entire day, deliverables, meetings and many more. And above all there will be office politics, where one have to face everything they come across. There are cases where office politics spoiled some thousands of lives.
As a student you do not face any of such things. You always try to enjoy your life and all of a sudden you get a job. First few days will be very exiting, may be for 3 days or one week at max? And after that everything turns. So, in order to get used to it, internships are important. Your internship might be for a month or two months and in that limited time you will know everything about how your day job is going to be like.
Boost your confidence
Looking for a little boost for your day job? Then internships can act as that little inspiration or motivation you need. Internships are unlike a complete a day job, you have to complete whatever the task assigned to you in the specific time. So whenever you reach or complete a task, you get a sense of appreciation from within. This appreciation improves the motivation and confidence in you to even get the further tasks successfully. By the end of your internship you get certified, and this act of certification can boost your inner motivational levels.
Develop good communication
People do not care how you talk when you are in your locality but when you are out of your locality, the way you speak and how you speak matters the most than the kind of work you do.
It is obvious that you should be clear about what you are talking when you are among a bunch of people. You will automatically try to sound smart with your sentences. As an intern you will not only have a lot of work to do but also you will have to speak more to explain your work status to your head from time to time or to even ask for help. This is when you improve your communication, as you speak more about your work, you will try to be specific and try to short the sentences to simplify the language.
Importance of taking on feedback
Students do not like negative feedback and for those sensitive people negative feedback can demotivate and stoop them down. Here, the way how you take feedback is what important. Check whether the given feedback is constructive or destructive. Take feedback that is constructive and thank those who offered it. Do not give the shit for those offering destructive feedback.
Whether you like or not, you will get feedback for everything while doing an internship and that feedback will always be constructive, which means you have to improve in some areas of your work. Whoever, take feedback and grow will be the one topping the internship.
Internship platforms:
- Internshala
- Glassdoor
- Internships LLC
- Simply hired
These are a few famous internship platforms in India.
