Bridging the professional gap

Updated on: Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Very often companies rue about the students whom they recruit directly from the college have to be moulded with tedious orientation programmes as they lack practical skills to work in a professional set up. Here comes the significance of internship as it acts as a bridge which facilitates the smooth transition between the theories bound learning and getting onto a professional stage.

With the academic year coming close to the end, students in the city are anticipating to gain hands on experience by landing up in the internships which would reinforce their career in the long run. Internship is an amazing opportunity to weigh your calibre against the professional scale and gives you scope to improve, for success in the career of your choice.

V. Avinash, a student of SNIST who did his internship at Vedaiit says, “getting into internship helped me to understand the practical applications of what I learnt in the class room. Apart from that it gave an insight into work culture, learning things by exploring which was not a case in the college as we had readymade solutions to tackle the problems.” Many firms across various fields accept students as internees and help them understand the nuances of the profession as it is the part of their corporate responsibility. These firms do not expect the students to master the job right from the beginning but look forward for the zeal to put into practice what they learnt in the colleges.

Internship is an added advantage when you are actually stepping into a job as you have upper hand compared to the other applicants, during the recruitments. “Every year we recruit candidates into our firm. Of all those, the students who gained hands on experience through internship will be given priority compared to others who lack knowledge about the work culture,” says a HR professional from an IT firm. Further some internships offer stipend to the students which would give them an opportunity to earn and become financially independent, along with the industry experience. “I was very happy when I first received payment for my services during internship. It stopped me from asking my parents for money,” says Vijetha, a Charter Accountancy student.

Here is how you can make most of the internship. Remember a work place is completely different from the class room environment as there is no one in the professional world to spoon feed in learning the intricacies of the work. So the best way is to establish good rapport with the seniors. For this you must consider everything from dressing up formally, showing dedication to learn, meeting the deadlines and consider multiple aspects of work place. As Divya Medikonda a student of Loyola who is interning at a post-production company puts it, “in professional arena unlike academics you ought to reflect your personal interest to learn rather than someone forcing you to learn.”

Some of the websites which guide you in finding an internship of your interest are –www. Internfever.com, www.iopportune.com, www.hellointern. com, www.indianinternship.

com. So get into an internship of your choice this summer and boost up your CV and skillset, which will help you pave a successful path in your chosen career.

Bridging the professional gap

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