“Internship is like going to a driving school before trying out one’s hands on road………..”
The fact is, you don’t become an expert in car driving, but you know the basic manners to drive it. You don’t become perfect in it and you will further commit mistakes, but your mistakes would be less. You will not know everything about that vehicle, but you will know something about it.
The same is with Internship. You will get a glimpse of how grueling corporate life can be, you will get a hint of where you can work out and although you won’t be perfectionist in whatever you will be doing, if done seriously, it has a lot to offer.
For some of you, it might be a formality (which it is academically) but in a real sense it holds a whole lot of importance in certain areas. As you guys gear up for the upcoming placement season, here is my list of output you should take away from your Internship Experience:
1. Relationships matters: This is one of the finest mantras of corporate life. The more networks you have, the more solutions to problems you have and the more opportunities you have. By relationships, I do not mean finding your soul mate or group of friends who can be part of your fancy Facebook posts, it means making connections with important people in that organization.
Take time and write a thank you note to your mentor, write a thank you e-mail to the concerned HR or take suggestions from experience lads there and it will build a wide array of networks for you. It can turn out to be one stop solution for you.
2. Personality Building: Considering most of you into marketing or selling jobs for a short period, this is the best time to build your personality. A sound personality should be a good leader, confident, positive, and always ready to go that extra mile. Meet new people, take their experiences, explore yourself and get out of that comfort zone of your friends/ family. The world is there to offer you a lot, go and utilize resources to build a sound personality.
3. Communication skills: This is a very true saying “Whatever you are and wherever you are is a direct result of the way you communicate”. Take a look around your problems or your animosity with people; it is a direct result of the way you communicated with them. Take a look around and you will notice people at higher hierarchy commands precisely but with authority.
Everything takes a back seat when you are a good communicator. Talk to people over the phone or in person put your point precisely yet strongly and listen to their requirements before responding. Unarguably, this is the need of the hour in modern day organizations and it's better you should develop it without wasting any further time.
4. Professionalism: In simple words, it means “the competence or skill expected out of a professional” and to grow ahead in career, it holds paramount importance. Although it varies from profession to profession, general etiquette include being punctual, formally dressed, acting in professional conduct and always taking responsibility for one’s actions.
You might say it to be above the head points but commencing a career in Deloitte, I observed this to be the requisites on the basis of which people judge you. Develop a good character, always value time and your work, the results would not be immediate but it would be long-lasting.
5. Resume-building: There might be a deadline that you met, there might be a target that you achieved, there might be a formal function that you organized, there might be an audit that you did flawlessly or there might be a tax return which you filed to the best of your capabilities. All this can add into your resume as achievements, extra-curricular etc.
Until this day, your resume might not be as good as you had wished it initially but you have not missed the bus yet, take the time to build it. Do courses which you feel would add to your knowledge (don’t assess knowledge in terms of money, I can bet one NCFM module will give you much more than 1600 bucks), determine that and start the process.
In the end, all said and my writing boils down to this heartfelt thought:
“You all had a good time till now, but now the time will come when a defeat would change friendships’, a victory would change perceptions. It is the time you move beyond those “in-hand salary” talks and build a career which rewards by default. It is the time when you prove, not to others’, but to yourself that you deserve a place.
All the best......!!!!!!!!
All the best......!!!!!!!!
