Internships For College Students- How to Get & Why Important

Many of us confuse the two terms difference between INTERNSHIP and TRAINING, before going into the details lets have a quick look on basics.

1. Training - It is more related to practical study and not theoretical. Here you learn the task of the company at each step, and are often given small projects or assignments to be completed for self or company.

2. Internship - It is a learning experience of work. Here actually you work under a leader; the organization assigns you the task, which needs to be completed as desired in the specific deadlines. Internship can be paid or free.

Importance of Internships

I see many guys asking me why internships are important? while we can do normal training from anywhere. One has to understand that Internships are an important part of education which provides us the application of the theories we learned so far. The curriculum of a degree has internship or training as a must. An internship provides you an experience while as a student, to get yourself prepared for the professional world after you complete graduation. An internship is an added advantage for getting in a profession because you already have a real-world experience, which helps you, further in getting a full-time job. Organizations prefer those students first who have experience.

It is not necessary to do an internship in the same field of your graduation, but to apply for an internship in other field; you must have the desired skills and possess the minimum required criteria by the organization.

Before Looking for Internships

Before you start searching for an internship, think about some points like-
1. What are your career interests?
2. Why do I want to do an internship program? E.g. to learn new skills, increasing your network connections, adding work experience to resume, or as an entry point you want to continue in that organization.
3. What are my current skills, on which I could apply an internship, and what skills should I further learn for it.

When to Apply For Internships

Plan for your internship before the time to start an internship comes. As if you don’t apply for your internship before 2-3 months, when the time comes, you will not have one in hand, and the time gets wasted. Each institution gives a particular period to obtain an internship, so start applying before 2-3 months.

How to Find Internships in your Area

1. Consult your seniors, college professors and career services office/training and placement office in your college for their experience of different industries that provide internship on your topic of interest. And ask for reference if they can do.
2. Search for the companies you would like to apply for, and send them mail, making it a point that you mention INTERNSHIP as the prime content.
3. Contact them by mail after every three-four days if, no reply is received, to show them the interest you have to join their company.
4. Make use of your contacts and get referred, a good way to easily get an internship.
5. Search for websites that provide information about the internships provided by organizations.

Paid Internships & Unpaid Internships

An internship is both paid and unpaid. A paid internship is when you are paid in the form of monthly stipend, daily wages, weekly pay, etc on the basis of work type. An unpaid internship is when you are not paid for your work during the tenure. Some of the organizations provide paid internships and some do not. But never let go a good choice to a low one for a paid internship, because as a student, your learning counts more than earning.

Some of the websites provide a full help to search for internships on every field of education. You just need to log in for applying to such internships. These are the best websites to provide internships in India-

Twenty19.com
Indian Internship
India Interns

“PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE COUNTS MORE THAN THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE”