4 lessons to gain from Internships

The annoying cycle of applying for grad jobs and either not hearing back, or hearing back only to be told that you don’t have the necessary experience to be considered for the role.

I’m sorry, but how else are you going to gain that experience if employers are not willing to give you that opportunity? This is where the dreaded word ‘Internships’ come into play.

A lot of people look down on internships because of the low, or sometimes even non-existent pay. Yes, I agree time is money, and you should be paid for your work. However unpaid internships (within reason) show great resilience and passion for your chosen field.

Now, of course, you don’t want to go overboard and accept every single unpaid opportunity you come across, as this will not work in your favour when applying to paid jobs. However, once you do gain that Internship, paid or unpaid, there are a lot of things that you will start to discover. I have put together a list of 4 lessons you will learn from undergoing an internship, to help you to understand just how valuable they can actually be.

Top 4

1. Organisation

Organisation plays a key role in…well, just about everything. Since interning, I have learnt that it is a very vital skill you need in all walks of life. You will soon learn the art of to-do lists and the wave of satisfaction that flows within you once you begin to tick items off. A lot of note taking will take place also, don’t trick yourself into thinking that that piece of information will stay in your head!

2. Clarity

Think of internships as a trial run. Almost everything has the ability to look good on paper, however, you will never truly know whether your dream job is actually something that you want to pursue, until you try it out. Interning is a great way to do just this without any long-term commitment.

3. Time-Keeping

Internships are a great way to perfect the art of great time keeping & prioritisation. These skills are needed in all aspects of life, once they are learnt at this level, the easier they are to transfer and apply to pretty much anything

4. How to converse 

Conversing/small talk in the working world is daunting but necessary. You never know what doors are waiting to be opened or what contacts are yet to be made, just by striking up a conversation. Stuck on what to talk about? Maybe start by connecting with team members on LinkedIn. This way you’ll be able to grow your connections whilst also having a peek at their interests, giving you somewhat of a direction for future conversations.

That is all for now! Thank you for reading, hopefully, this has helped someone somewhere. If you have any more tips or suggestions feel free to leave them in the comment section below.