As a rule, the role of university education is to broaden students’ minds by exposing them to various theories, opinions, points of view, etc. However, not a single university can explain how to use it all in real life.
What Is an Internship?
Internship is a possibility to immerse yourself into your chosen professional field for a short period of time (1 to 6 months) and learn first-hand what it really means to be a manager, a business assistant, a lawer, an accountant, etc. Internship is the right time and a good chance to apply all your theoretical knowledge and to find out how to be a valuable asset for your employer. Nowadays there is a large number of various companies and firms that accept interns on a regular basis or offer internship placements.
Why Do I Need an Internship?
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There are at least 3 basic reasons for a student to cover an internship: Firstly, internship is a good opportunity to learn more about the major and industry you decided to devote your life to. It is not rare that many students opt for this or that major after consulting their parents or friends, or just by following the trends of labour market. But the whole meaning of the option made dawns on people only after a long while. Therefore, to better understand what you should expect after graduation it is strongly recommended to seize an opportunity of an internship. It will allow you to see what your future job actually includes, what kind of skills and knowledge it requires and whether you really feel like doing that job. Several months of employment might as well help you to shape your future perspectives and ways of both professional and personal development.
Secondly, internship is certainly a great opportunity to learn about business of a single given company (that can be multinational company, start-up, SME, etc.). Before you get enough experience to successfully run your own business, you will need to be a part of someone’s else business and work within the frames of it. Thus, your future success might depend on the way you work and what you get out of that experience. You should also remember that job is something people devote most of their time to, and it is necessary then to be cautious while choosing your career path.
While doing internship in a certain company you can have a clear view of all the business strategies, plans, processes, structures, approaches, relations of that company, of the ways it builds and expands its business. Most of the companies organize special business lectures, trainings and seminars for its young employees, and this is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable practical knowledge. Besides, during the internship period you can deeply evaluate the corporate culture of a given company and understand whether it suits you or not - whether you agree to stick to the rigid rules and adhere to the conditions of work, be able to communicate with your colleagues within set framework or simply can balance personal and business life. Finally, internship is a good time to meet new people and establish some contacts and expand your network.
Thirdly, through the whole period of looking for an internship and covering it you will be tested as a future employee. And for you personally internship experience can help better evaluate your chances, discover your «weak» and «strong» points. After working for some months in a company you will be able to tell whether your job suits you as well as the company you work in, or you should better try something else. Real experience is sometimes strong enough a thing to change the whole perspective on your future career. At the same time, you might as well fully enjoy your job and duties and that certain company might become the first step on the ladder to success. It is often that interns who show good results are offered full-time employment.
How Do I Find an Internship?
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If you decided that internship is exactly what you need you will most probably ask yourself how to find one. First of all, start with something that you are really interested in, what you have already studied at the university, what you want to try in practice and what you need to learn more about. This will help you to shape your idea of a job you want to do.
Then, in order to find an internship you need to become more active. An internship is like your dream job - it requires some efforts to be found. Plan the time of your internship quite in advance to avoid any clashes with your studies schedule or simply to collect all the necessary papers on time. Try to find as much information on internships as possible, but be aware that it might take you too long to «digest» all the information available online.
To put it in simple terms, there are two ways you can start your internship search process - you can do it by yourself or you can rely on a professional company that offers internship placements. The first way is less costly but time-consuming while the second is vice versa. As there are more and more companies both well-established and springing like mushrooms every day, it is highly possible that you might find an internship with one of them. However, you will have to allocate most of your time for it: first, find the information about the companies, check whether they accept interns, what kind of requirements they have, then send your CV (which most probably will have to be tailored to the requirements of each company you contact), then wait for the reply (sometimes it takes up to several weeks), then have an interview in case your CV is approved. The whole process is similar to that of looking for a full-time job, except for the fact that you cannot fully devote yourself to it due to lectures and seminars.
The second way is a sort of short-cut towards internship - you find the company (or companies) that you feel you can trust, fill in application form and get a reply within days. Then you just follow the company’s instructions as it usually has a step-by-step procedure for internship placement. The company can advise you on how to build your CV better to meet the requirements of a perspective employer, will give you certain tips that you can use during your interview, and will find you a desirable internship that would match your skills, educational background and your personal preferences. Besides, internships can also come as «package» programs that also include accomodation, airport pick-up and drop-off and language course (in case you want an internship abroad) and etc.
There is a certain sense to trust a professional company to find an internship for you. It saves time, it guides you through the whole process, it provides you full support during the internship period and - whats more important - it helps you and you future employer to meet each other. Professional internship placement companies (or recruiting agencies) often cooperate with a lot of companies, firms and organizations from various industries and maintain close connections with HR offices. In their turn, empoyer companies rely on such recruiting agencies in finding the right candidate to fill a vacant position. That is why finding an internship through an intermediary is easier, faster and safer.
More information about Business Internship Program in China is available at
http://www.getin2china.com/internship-program.html
Beijing Office: +86 10 52889011
Email: info@getin2china.com
Skype: Getin2china
