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Internship Jobs - the Advantages & Disadvantages
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Internships – Advantages and Disadvantages:
An internship is a position within a company or
organization that is offered to a student or
recent graduate for a limited period of time.
They generally last for a few months and are
usually part-time during the academic year and
full-time in the summer. The purpose of the
internship is to allow the intern to gain work
experience in an area related to their studies
or that they feel they would be interested in
pursuing as a career in the future. Internships
are available in almost every discipline, including Engineering, Business,
Accounting, Marketing,
Hospitality and Science.
Advantages of Internships:
• Interns get the opportunity to work alongside
professionals and learn from them. You see how
the theory that you have studied is applied in
real-life situations. Internships provide
valuable insight into what a particular job
entails on a daily basis or what a particular
company is like to work in. Feedback from
management or your colleagues can help you to
identify your strengths as well as areas where
your skills may need improvement. This enables
you to make more realistic and informed
decisions about the career path you will follow
after graduation.
• Internships provide networking opportunities
which may lead to future full-time employment.
You also have a chance to prove your abilities
to the company that you intern with. This gives
you a distinct advantage over other candidates
if you are looking for a permanent job after
graduation as your experience will make the
learning curve considerably shorter. The company
will also gain from your knowledge of the most
current industry theories and trends.
• You will learn skills that are vital in the
workplace but which do not relate directly to
your academic studies. For example, you will
learn about time management, communication
skills and how to work well with co-workers who
may come from different backgrounds to your own.
Having your own responsibilities assigned to you
will result in your becoming more confident in
your own abilities. You will be encouraged to
use your own initiative and be prepared to try
new things. You can also gain academic credit
for a successful internship.
• Internships can help to ease the transition
from academic life to the workplace. Regardless
of whether you are offered a permanent position
with the company that you intern with, the
real-life experience that you gain is very
attractive to any potential future employer. To
many employers, it is as important as excellent
academic results.
• Interns are often assigned a particular person
who supervises your internship. You report
directly to them and in some cases, they will be
reporting on your progress to your educational
institute if you are gaining academic credit for
your internship. You are able to turn to them
with any questions or concerns you may have and
they are there to provide training and guidance.
Disadvantages of Internships:
• Some companies pay their interns an hourly
rate but often internships are unpaid positions.
If the position is unpaid, some companies may
cover some expenses such as lunch or transport
costs. However, even if the experience gained is
valuable many interns may feel dissatisfied that
their hard work goes unrewarded. If your
financial situation dictates that you need to
earn money over a summer, then an internship may
not be the best option for you.
• It is important that you ensure that your
duties and responsibilities as an intern are
clearly laid out before you commence work with
the company. You are there to learn and to gain
practical experience in your area of study. Most
companies do their best to match your duties as
an intern to your areas of interest. However, if
the internship has been poorly organized or the
company is simply taking advantage of free labor,
some interns do not benefit from their
internship. You may find you end up doing menial
tasks such as photocopying or errand-running.
• You may be assigned to repetitive tasks in one
particular department which restricts your
exposure to the company as a whole. In this
situation, it can be more difficult to display
your abilities to those in senior positions who
may be able to offer you permanent employment
later.
• Some students may be distracted from
completing their studies by being offered a
position within the company during their
internship. In the case of paid internships, you
might be less inclined to want to return to
student life once you have started to earn
money.
Below is a list of some of the various types of
internships. |
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