By Harsh Agarwal & Samiksha Dhaka |
For many college students, the arrival of vacation means relaxation. Many students will be spending their time pool-side, soaking up the sun and perfecting their tans or going on a trip, while others will be spending their vacation employed as interns.
Internships offer real-life work experience in a prospective career field. For college students, the word “internship” is not unfamiliar but can be quite frightening. The best way to approach an internship is not as a requirement, but as a stepping stone to opportunities. This post won’t serve as a simple guide to getting an internship. This post is for the dreamers, the goal-setters, the doors, and the people who believe that the steps taken now will undoubtedly shape and strengthen their future. The future waits for no one.
This summer, Anshul Tandon, an Economics Third year student of Hindu College went through a selection process and his dedicated efforts helped him in getting an internship from AT&T company. AT&T is also a fortune 500 company and one of the companies which pay the highest stipend to interns. Anshul interned in the field of Operations and Procurement. Anshul was responsible for operations management of cross country procurement and product orders, negotiations with suppliers, and supervision of quality control and after-sales service and reporting and market trends analysis. His internship was basically for two months in the Gurgaon office of AT&T.
Through the internship experience, he actually understood the importance of time management and how to exactly handle the workload and pressure. "When AT&T joined hands with Warner Bros during the two-month period, the workload actually got increased and it became challenging to handle pressure but at the same time, it also gave a sigh of relief after completion of every day's work. My internship experience taught me a lot of things which I actually feel will help me a lot in the future," Anshul said.
Internship with the company helped him in developing skills like professional Communication, exposure to the global world, time management, teamwork, working experience in the grassroots and advanced level, critical thinking, development of managerial capacity. The best benefit he got from the internship was it helped him in figuring out his future plans and he was also offered a pre-placement offer from AT&T. Overall it was a very learning and fruitful experience for Anshul. In Anshul's words "An internship may seem intimidating, but it is important to examine your interests in depth. As you develop your career path, remember to be yourself and let your natural light shine. Seek out opportunities that reflect what you care about and want to pursue".
ABHYAS as a society has expanded over the course of time and has an extensive network of alumni who have worked in diverse sectors and have gained experience, skill & knowledge during their internship timeline. Learning about the students’ first hand experiences at work & opinions on internships plays a major role in making the students realise the need for expansion of one’s skill sets, experience & knowledge through interning and getting ready for the corporate world!
Shubhangi, a Third year Economics Student, interned at Credihealth which is a startup aiming to bring credibility in the health sector. According to her, internships are extremely important as they provide one with an opportunity to venture into the corporate world while one is still in college and provides a platform for the application of classroom knowledge.
“Internships not only make you realise what career option to pursue, but more importantly, what not to pursue because it's very important to know where exactly your interest lies.”, she said.
Shubhangi also highlighted the advantages of working at a startup. She elucidated on how it is an excellent opportunity to expand your skillset as the company provides you with a lot of new opportunities and you are always in direct contact with the senior management, so one quite often find themselves being a part of important discussions which turn out to be really fruitful.
Apart from the exposure to the corporate sector, building your own corporate network, developing and honing multiple skills which play a key role in your professional growth are some other important benefits of interning. In her opinion, in today's competitive environment, it's crucial to have some experience through an internship to gain an edge over the other students.
After working at Credihealth, she expanded her skill set, built a stronger corporate network and became part of important discussions which taught her to put forth her point with conviction. Thus, she came out as a more experienced individual with the right sense of professionalism!