How to find perfect Internship
What is an Internship?
An official program offered by an employer to potential employees is called an internship. The internship may be full time or part time for a certain period of time. Students of post graduate or graduate program work for one to four months in an organization to gain experience of about the work. The primary purpose of the internship program is the attainment of practical work experience.
The modern concept of the internship is an apprenticeship in which skill person teach the young student about the trade matters and that student in return will agree to work for that teacher for certain period of time.
Difference between apprenticeship and internship
The difference between these two terms is that internship exploratory. When a student starts an internship and works for the organization, he will not bound to work after the internship ending. He will leave after the internship if the organization does not offer a job after the internship. The job may be offered during the internship to intern. If you start internships early in college time, it will help to choose a goal for your life as well as experience for that job.
Difference between paid and unpaid internships
Internships may be unpaid or paid. If it is unpaid interns may subject to labor guidelines. When interns do an unpaid internship, they are not obligated to provide benefit company economically under the U.S laws. They are displaced by the paid employees to do so. In California, unpaid interns are supported economically in the university. Mostly American internships are on the job training for the students or young workers which they want to learn about. There are also research internships in which higher level students examine about a topic on behalf of the organization and then submit the work in presentation or report form.
Many employers use internship program to select and train the employees for the organization. In this way, they evaluate the potential workers.
Types of Internship
Internships can be classified according to four basic dimensions.
1. Time of year
Internships may run during the academic year or vacations. They can also be done during summer or winter season. By the time of year, internships are classified as summer internships, winter internships, quarter internships, spring internships and fall internships, etc.
2. Industry
Industry based internships include the major of the students. It is based on the specialization of interns in their academic career. By industry, it may be classified as marketing internships, finance internships, advertising internships, legal internships, entertainment industry internships, technology internship, legal internship, PR internship, fashion internship, publishing internships.
3. Credit vs. no credit
An internship can be credit versus not for credit. On this basis, internships are provided in exchange for university or college credit. This is a common misconception that only college or university credit is provided to the interns. It can be part of academic coursework or extracurricular plans.
4. Location
Internships are also based on the location. Commonly, internship programs are posted online, they are referred to the city in which they are located. By location, internships may be classified as New York internships, Los Angeles internship, Chicago internships, etc.
On this basis, some of the internships types are as follows.
1. Paid internships
Paid internships are those internships for which organizations pay to the interns. Most of these internships are offered by private sector organizations or large organizations that have much money to pay to the interns working in the organizations. When the choice is given to the interns between paid or unpaid, interns mostly prefer paid internships. Now more organizations are recognizing the value of the paid internships. They train their interns by providing them paid internships. After the internship, companies also offer the job to the interns. It plays an enormous benefit for the recruitment process of the organization. In this way, organizations evaluate their potential future employees. Due to the lawsuits by the interns, during past few years, paid internships are more offered by the organizations. The majority of the companies offer paid internship to protect them and provide benefit to their interns.
2. Non-profit internships
The non-profit internship includes doing internships in nonprofit organizations. Non-profit organizations internship is quite different from the paid internships. Non-profit organizations do not include stockholders who have to be paid each year. It includes charity organizations, religious organizations, universities, govt. Agencies or may include some hospitals as well. These organization mainly focus on providing services and benefits to others rather than making a profit for themselves. Non-profit organizations offer internships which are not paid. They provide skills to the interns who may be useful for entry-level employees selection.
3. Summer internships
Summer internships are offered during the summer seasons mostly vacations to the students. These internships may be 8 to 12 weeks long. These may be part time or full time. Mostly students prefer doing an internship during summer vacations because they can completely focus on gaining knowledge of work. They have ample time to consume for internships.
4. Externship
It is very similar to an internship but contains much shorter duration. It is also called job shadowing. It may contain one day to several weeks.
5. Cooperative education
Internship and cooperative education are similar. The only difference between an internship and cooperative education is that internship may consist of several weeks of months, but cooperative education may contain one to several months. Students can attend classes as well as work at the same time in cooperative education. Both are excellent ways to gain valuable knowledge. Cooperative education also offers opportunity network with the professionals to gain knowledge for the field they want.
6. Local vs. international internship
Local and international internships differ in major perspectives. In the modern world, students prefer to go abroad for their study as well as internships. Local internships differ in the durations, knowledge level any many other perspectives. International internships are becoming integrated with the college service learning program. International internships can be valuable for the students. These may be valuable because of strong economy of other countries.
International internships are preferred over the local internships.
7. College internship and postgraduate level internship
The main purpose of the internship is to gain valuable knowledge and skills about the practical working. By doing an internship at the college level, students can gain vast experience about the practical working. It will help to choose the goal for the students as well as desired profession. It helps the students because organizations prefer experienced professionals for the job hiring. Some of the organizations require employees who have done an internship during their college learning.
Post graduate level internship also provides huge benefits for the potential employees. The postgraduate level internship is preferred because of certain reasons which are as follows.
● Job search is going nowhere: After the graduation, internships and jobs are offered to the students at the same time. Job searching is a lengthy process for the students so they should not waste their time freely. They should do the internship until job selection for the desired post.
● An internship can lead to the job: When students do an internship at postgraduate level, they may offer the job just after the internship ending. This will help you to get you job easily. This is based on your performance during the internship program.
Internship Goal development
When students come at the level of the internship, they feel themselves in the position to know about the importance of an internship. They think why it is important to do an internship. Their desired career level requires an internship at which they will learn about the practical life and will gain skills for doing the job. They should know about the job market which is possible through the internship.
You should first develop goals for the internship and what they want to do during the internship.
● Think why you wanted the internship
You should establish personal reasons why you are doing an internship. It may be possible that you are confused between two career levels or professions. For the decision, you may take internships for that profession so that you can clearly develop your career level. It may be possible that you have done a lot of internships already. This time you need to develop your next goal and reason for doing this internship. You must have reason to do an internship and decide what you will do during the internship. For example, you may be confused about finance and marketing, you should do an internship to decide which profession is suitable for you and what you can easily do.
● Any specific skill you want to gain
What you have to decide is there any specific skill you want to gain from this internship. For example, if your specialization is in finance and you are doing an internship in any finance department, you may learn about how the account is entered. Specific knowledge about the job may be your preference. These specific skills which are learned during the internship may also be asked in the job interview. If you have not learned about that specific task, you can ask you employer about that skill in a few minutes talking session.
● What impression you want to make by the company about you
Think for the few minutes that during internship program which impression you are creating about yourself. What company and other employees think about you. What impression your work is creating about you. All of these questions need your assessment. You should make a list of actions or words to speak in every day in the organization to create the desired impression. You may think what your employer think and call to you. He may call you as a friend, helper, creative, etc. All of these are your choice and impression which you have to create.
Internship FAQ
Organizations use the internship as a tool to assess and evaluate the potential candidates for the organization. It is an excellent way to gain experience and work related activities. Students often do several internships to gain expertise about a variety of jobs.
● Which is a good time to look for internship
Internship application requires lengthy process timing for good internship. Students have to decide at which time they should apply for the internship. Whether they have to do a summer internship or winter internship, they should decide. If they want to start the internship during college level, they should start to gain expertise for practical work. In this way, they will get exposure to a variety of jobs. They can do several internships in this way.
● Good place to find internship
Students should decide at which place they should do an internship. If they want to do local internships, they should apply for this. If they want to go for international internships, they should go for it. They should ask from the professionals, employers or consultants to find out the best places to start the internship. They have to decide the organization in which they will do the internship. Many internships are offered online through internships site like MonsterTRAK, Internships.com, Internships USA, etc. You should check your career center to see to subscribe these resources. In this way, you will know which internship is good and which is not.
● What kinds of internships are available
Finding internship will help to know about the kinds of internships available in the market. In this way, you will also know about the job availability in the market. Profit, non-profit organizations, private sector organizations, and govt. Organizations offer different internships at a different level. Internships can be paid, unpaid, not for credit or credit. These may be quarterly internships, summer internships, winter internships, fall internships, spring internships, etc.
● Benefits of doing internships
Companies offer rewarding and worthwhile internships for the students. Some of these internships are directly linked to the college coursework. Internships are done to get the valuable knowledge and work experience. It helps to know about the duties and task performed during the job. Specific skills are learned through the internships. Companies may also offer rewards in shape of paid internships to the students. Based on the performance of the interns, the company may also offer the job to the organization to the intern at the end of the internship. So internship is rewarding and worthwhile for the students.