Summer is approaching, well, at least in some parts of the world. In the UK it still seems far away! But that’s not the case with Internships. Irrespective of whether the sun rises or not, May – August is usually the Summer Internship season. In this post I will list out some pros and cons of doing an internship.
Doing an internship is a nice way of getting work experience, as well as networking with people in the industry, aka the “real world”. And it has quite a lot of benefits attached to it, as well. After I did my summer internship, I got a year in industry placement with the same company and then got offered a job a year later with the same organisation.
Pros of doing an internship
1. You gain valuable work experience, which helps build your CV and broadens your horizons
2. Your grow your network. Expand connections and socially build a professional network
3. If it is a paid internahip, you are smiling on your way to the bank.
4. You will be looked upon as a person with “real world” experience
5. You become awesome to future employers
6. You become more disciplined with respect to time and work. Overall develop better work-management skills
7. You will see an increase in your confidence levels to deal with issues, interviews and be able to negotiate a better salary later on!
Cons of doing an internship
Of course, every coin has two sides, so there has to be a flip-side in this case, too . And there are a couple of issues with doing an internship, noticeably:
1. You won’t have enough free time during your holidays to stay useless and become a couch potato
2. If it is an unpaid internship – it might strain your finances.
Where To Find Internships
You can find internships all over the world! Whichever browser you use, just go and google internships, find an internship, or anything else related to internships.
I do advocate doing internships because they help. But be careful, don’t stretch your finances too much. And quite frankly, I don’t think there is any point in travelling from the UK to China or any other country, for an internship that is unpaid. I know some people go, ‘Oh I have been offered an unpaid internship in Germany’. When asked how they’d manage, I get the answer “Credit Card”. That’s crazy. When doing anything, you should make a sound financial judgement and if you are losing out on more than you are getting, reconsider.
Some sites to find internships are listed below – this is by no means an exhaustive list.
Inspiring Interns (UK)
Youtern (US)
Gradberry (UAE)
Enternships (UK)
Graduate Recruitment Bureau (UK) *update 19/03/13
If you want your site going up here, just leave a comment or email faizan.p@outlook.com and I will make an effort to add to this list.
top image: CJ Isherwood via photopin cc
Worth remembering that unpaid internships are illegal in this country; not only is the “employer” breaking the law, but technically, so is the intern as you are not able to waive your right to the National Minimum Wage. I would hope that this would be reflected in your article.
Great post. Internships are vital here in the US – they are the #2 predictor of entry level hiring (#1 is university). The pros far outweigh the cons.