The Invisible Power of Internships

When we are at the entry portals of our careers or entrepre-neurial journeys, we often have ‘hope’ as a clear virtue or attribute.

- Rajesh Nair

There is a sense of accomplishment in every endeavour and imagination soars high and expectations know no bounds. Often, the reality of a workplace is different from the rigmarole, a young mind bargains for. Does that mean we need to teach the young to temper their aspirations? Well, a good alternative is to provide them an avenue to experience some of it themselves. Internships are a great way of doing that.

Internships have been around from the ancient days. The process of working intensely and assisting the ‘masters’ has been the credo of many a profession and skill in the past. The modern day version of internships for professionals is a route often explored, and now made mandatory in many institutions. The process is always well meaning and hopes the student gets the best of a ‘corporate experience’. At times the corporates also don’t see the ‘light’ of having interns. We often hear the laments of interns who complain that they got was warmed-over projects, company propaganda, and lots of social events, where they were but an extra pair of hands.

The popular ‘summer jobs’ culture which has been prevalent in the western countries is a great example of this phenomenon. Children from secondary schools pick up the odd jobs during the summer. The benefit is not just the ‘popcorn – movie’ that they earn from these stints, but also some lessons in working in a more structured environment, feel the intensity of doing tasks to deadlines.