By Varenya Vir Singh |
Q1) How do I answer the question "Why should we hire you for this internship”?
Ans. With this question, your interviewer is asking you to sell you to him and your status as the most suitable person for the position.
This is an opportunity to reiterate your most impressive strengths and/or describe your most memorable selling points, tailored to align with the top requirements in the job description. Your 3-4 bullet points could include a combination of the following:
1. Experience in performing certain tasks or duties
2. Technical skills
3. Soft skills
4. Key accomplishments
5. Awards/accolades
6. Education/training
Q2) Should I go for an educational or career focused company?
Ans. This is the question that can be best answered by you. While answering this question though you’ll first need to analyse what you plan to do after you complete your Bachelor’s degree. You could be looking to pursue higher education or apply for a job. While not entirely, this choice of yours will have a significant role to play in deciding what internship would be best suited for you. At the end of the day it is the experience that you take away from an internship that’s really going to make the difference.
Q3) Which companies should be the one I should apply for while looking for internships?
Ans. Online and offline platforms offer a wide range of Internships. For you, the deciding factor as to which companies you must look out for depend on, your field of interest and the course you're pursuing. For example, if you are a B. Com. student and have a knack for finance, you should look out for companies that offer good finance and research profiles like EY, Deloitte etc. Although, you can also prefer to go beyond your course and go for companies that offer unconventional profiles like Field Research, Data Collection etc.
Q4) Should money play a deciding role in which internship I should choose?
Ans. Ideally the answer to this question is NO. The point of doing an internship is to gain experience and hence money should not play as a deciding factor while choosing and internship. One should instead look at the opportunities for growth that the internship could provide them with. The work environment, work culture and most importantly the profile that you’ll be handed are what should be the decisive factors.
Q5) How important is it for me to consider my stream before applying for an internship?
OR
Should the internships be stream or course oriented?
Ans. The internship that one pursues does not necessarily have to stream or course oriented. However, it is advisable not to arbitrarily apply for internships. It could be advantageous to have an internship which pertains to the course you’re studying as it could make use of the knowledge and skills that you possess specifically because of your subject and help you in getting a better job profile.
Q6) Will internships help me in pursuing further studies abroad?
Ans. Every institution, abroad or within India has their own set guidelines in accordance to which they accept students. Internships regardless, act as a stepping stone to grow more in a particular field. So definitely, your chances to make it to your Dream College increase rapidly if you intern at quality institutes since it hones your skills and prepares you for the world out there.
Q7) Is work at home internships advisable?
Ans. This is debatable. If your current environment, location or time availability doesn't favor in office Internships and you want to gain experience still, Work from Home Internships could be taken up.
But it comes at a cost; the exposure you get while working on field/ in office is unparallel to working from home. You sharpen your communication skills, get to interact with people with similar interests as yours and most importantly, widen your network or contact base as a whole, all of which you don't get equipped with when your Internships are operated from home.
Q8) How does an internship affect placement?
Ans. Internship can have impact in various ways -
1) you intern in a 'good' company, have a PPO (Pre-placement offer)
2) you intern in a 'good' company, do not have PPO - well, you have a nice brand in your resume to compensate, so it will help.
3) you intern in a not so 'good' company, have a PPO - It gives you a feel that - at least you have something, now you can give your best for further plans.
4) you intern at a startup - you learned a lot. This will help you explore opportunities at various startups - who care more about 'technical' knowledge than algorithmic problem solving/coding. Though big companies like - Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc do not generally consider the knowledge in technology-stacks as a parameter for selection from campus (/just pass out), but having that learning/knowledge will definitely do no harm and will in fact make you more confident than others.
Hence having done an internship clearly tells them that you've been tested with the heats of the corporate world and that you know what goes on inside of companies (obviously you don't have the bigger picture, but you can tell how the screws go with the bolts)
You obviously work under a mentor during your internship, so they know you can handle the pressure of working under someone.