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INTERNSHIPS
At the outset, let me try and define what an Internship is. Internship can be defined as the position a student or a trainee takes in an organisation, mostly without pay, to gain hands-on experience and prepare them before getting a job in the future. Internships are mostly unpaid, but the experience one gains from it is everlasting. The student gains experience and skill that can be used in their future endeavours at school projects as well as at home. Internships generally open up during summer vacations or can be taken up for specific months. It can also be a way of giving young adults a real-life experience of work. In enables them to develop their ideas, strength, and personality. The experiences gained during this training would help one be prepared to face any situations in life.
Students must focus the area of their internship on their preferred subjects and strengths which they plan to pursue in the future. The process involves building the resume, preparation for the interview or group discussions and working on the documentations. Skills and knowledge is examined through these methods by the firms to select the best fit student as per their offered area of internship and requirements. It is a significant day in a student’s life when one receives the offer letter under the letter head of a reputed organisation which has been in business for years. This experience stays etched in a student’s memory forever.
The student’s preparation for the internship forms the next important stage. Here the student must make a list of things that he/she wishes to gain out of the internship program. It has to be considered as the stepping stone to the real world of possibilities. The student has to be well prepared, beginning with the knowledge and understanding about the organisation. Students have to deep dive into the business model of the organisation to understand its products and how it delivers them.
A good study of retailing, marketing, advertising and supply chain process will give one some idea as to what to look forward to during the internship. Here it is also important to understand the mission, vision, and values of the organization too. Once the information is assimilated list of things can be brought out that one wants to learn throughout the internship. It can be knowledge based or skill based such as enhancement of communication skills, interpersonal skills, marketing skills, analytical skill or negotiation skills, etc.
During the internship process, it gives students an opportunity to ask questions and absorb as much as one can digest. This is where the real learning happens, because if one is interested in a particular sales or marketing process, one can learn from the real-life experience by watching the employee in action. All these learnings should to be jotted down in a book and the learnings are to be reflected upon later when student progresses into the world of work later.
Through the internship, students understand different problems that are encountered on a business day and how effective problem solving is done. The interns also get to learn more about different stakeholders and their role in the companies. They get an opportunity to interact with different people around them and this helps understand and develop people skills. Trainees may be put in teams as this is a good exercise to learn to coordinate and communicate with teammates, taking others’ views and putting them into practice.
In my opinion, it is very important to develop our communication skills during internship since communication is the basic way to express your ideas and thoughts.
