Budding Students earlier on in their educational degree in their appropriate Majors, aim to gain real life experiences through their internships. These are usually facilitated either through their university or through an intermediary. They must make sure to hit the milestones below and create a massive drive in their professional careers
- Professional Networking:
Networking is necessary when it comes to scaling your progression and growing in a certain field. Students must aim to connect with individuals with a higher level of expertise in their specific Internships. These connections encourage and foster trust and a vision for interns to utilize for recommendations, feedback, and new perspectives. This in turn contributes to assisting the students to develop a stronghold in the professional work environment.
Bella Amico, a Marketing and Events Specialist at Workplace Options states, “As my internship moved forward, I created valuable and beneficial relationships that could be relied on for recommendations as well as counsel for future work assignments. I gained close relationships with my co-workers as they mentored me throughout the process, which will help me navigate my future career.”
Research by Jack Flynn at Zippia concludes that 79 percent of employees believe that networking is essential for their career advancement (Zippia 2023). Interns can learn from the connections they developed on LinkedIn and in real-time to keep in touch and learn further about career improvements. Many employees hear about job openings or alternative employment prospects due to networking by keeping in touch with former co-workers. Maintaining connections and relationships that students form during their internship is important to help them ask for feedback on upcoming projects and recommendations for future employment. All in all, when students form connections with individuals with a higher level of expertise in their specific field progression is evident. When their knowledge base expands to a scalable level they can recalibrate their vision and improve their skills on an exponential level. Through this a student learns that:” your net worth is based on your network “.
- Practical Skill Development:
Internships provide hands-on experience that allows students to apply theoretical knowledge from their courses in a practical, real-world setting. This is crucial for developing new skills that are not typically learned in a traditional classroom which has a limited scale as it only teaches you one part of the puzzle for skill upgrade the rest has to be learnt in real time and with real challenges through internships.
- Improved Employability:
A positive internship experience significantly boosts employability. This has to do with the self-initiatives a student takes during their internships. This helps to reduce the negative effects of a poorly structured internship program which may be effecting their performance .But Taking initiatives such as information seeking behaviours ,an enhanced ability to negotiate, tendency to hold relationships and adjusting in their workplace leads to higher satisfaction in the students who have now mastered their task and have accomplished the solution to a certain challenge. Thus, through this, Students gain a competitive edge in the job market, receive more interview requests, and can look forward to better job prospects after graduation.
- Confidence and Professional Identity:
By facing and overcoming real time challenges in the work environment, interns have now developed greater confidence and form a clearer sense of their professional identity.
- Soft Skills Enhancement:
Internships are excellent for developing essential soft skills, such as communication, interpersonal skills, networking, and time management, which are increasingly important in today’s workplace.
- Resume and Portfolio Building:
Internships provide quantifiable experiences and accomplishments that can be used to create stronger resumes and portfolios, showcasing practical skills and thus sculpting a well-to-do work history to potential employers.
- Understanding Work Environments:
Students get to experience different work environments, understand the expectations of employers, and learn to navigate professional settings, which is invaluable for future career success.
As a student moves towards completing their internships they will have evolved to a degree where they appreciate the ups and downs faced during their internships based on how they were able to navigate and find solutions for various challenges that they faced in real time and finally towards graduating from their universities .This rejuvenates and energises them creating a massive drive by these work place experiences. Overall, these are all the valuable takeaways a student shall receive once they have completed their internship. and that is how the cookie crumbles”.
References:
- https://www.workplaceoptions.com/blog/the-professional-skills-and-values-of-an-internship/#:~:text=A%20professional%20internship%20allows%20students,improve%20their%20perspectives%20and%20understanding.
- Flynn, Jack. “25+ Important Networking Statistics [2023]: The Power of Connections in The Workplace.” Zippia, 12 May 2023, www.zippia.com/advice/networking-statistics/#:~:text=Networking%20is%20a%20valuable
- Jawabri.A. (2017). Exploration of Internship experience and Satisfaction Leading to better career prospects among business students in the UAE, American Journal of Educational research, Vol.5 Title , pages 1065-1079. Doi:10.12691/education-5-10-8.
