As soon to be graduates we need to widen our skillset and match it to the industry’s level of requirements. An extremely efficient way of achieving this is by doing internships.
Internships can boost your employability chances heavily provided, you pick the right ones. Every student must do at least one internship that is directly related to their major.
A computer science engineer doing a marketing internship is not as impressive as doing an internship that required programming. Similarly, a business major picking a data entry internship is a far cry from skill enhancement.
Many people start looking for internships on Internshala. There are thousands of listings on Internshala each attracting applicants in similarly huge numbers, but it must be noted that some of these internships are legit scams and there is no easy way to decide if an offer is real or a fraud.
Take my pro-tip and start hunting on LinkedIn. Update your LinkedIn profile to reflect your best, then go to LinkedIn’s jobs tab for the latest job listings and choose the one that is more related to your skillset. LinkedIn also suggests the internships that are most suitable for you.
From my personal experience, It is also very important to stay away from internships like data entry and proofreading because there is a higher probability of scams.
I have joined a proof-reading internship I found on Internshala, then worked for them for 3 weeks proofreading over 100 pages in the process, but in the end, they kept denying that the work is perfect. They deliberately started sending back my work saying it needs more proofreading, and in the end, they denied me my stipend saying I did not finish the work as prescribed in the job description. I have reported the company to Internshala but that did not stop them from scamming more innocent job seekers.
A good friend of mine started a data entry internship with a small start-up, they made him fill over 1,000 forms in 1 month. They said his work was complete. When asked about his stipend, they said that he did not fill in the data properly. They rejected 80% of his work and said they are cancelling his internship and did not award his certificate. My friend is now pursuing legal action against the startup.
An Internship is a very important aspect of a student’s skill development but the ability to choose the right one makes or breaks your career.
