Do Internships earn you a job?

Yes, doing an Internship will definitely make you realise and understand how things actually work in real life; by doing an internship you can also check your interests and strengths

If you're a student, prepare for a planned internship from the very first semester. Lot of students ignore this and loose the golden opportunity of getting real time exposure, most of them have a tough time during an interview as they have nothing to showcaseand win the job.

When you take up summer internship program at Start-up Company, then you have an advantage as you not only take learning out of that program but there is a chance of you getting placed in the same company. Why Startups? For any startup, time is a very crucial aspect; and every team member is critical including interns.

It means you'll be directly working on projects that impact their customers. If you join a large company, your exposure is often limited to the small portion as there will be lot of employees and interns in that company. So there's no scope to effectively expose yourself to all aspects of the business.

But in early-stage startups, being a member of a small team you'll obviously be there in every aspect of the business and moreover startups ensure that everyone stays in the loop.

However, the great thing about startups is some of them turn into big organizations in a matter of months. Even if those startups fail, you'll gain experiential learning. So, the network you acquired always pays off.

I'm pursuing B.Tech – CSE, due to financial problems I have taken one extra year during my intermediate and engineering. How this gap would affect my career? -Venugopal, Kukatpally

It totally depends on how you justify yourself that you're the right fit for the said job. Most of the MNCs and growing companies prefer to take those who do not have any backlogs or clear the subjects without any delay. However, in case of startups it's different - rather they prefer and focus more on skilled people than going for degrees.

Their primary approach is how a particular candidate can be useful and also justify the job assigned. So you better approach startup companies. You can choose anything from mobile applications, website applications, banking or other database management and do an internship in that.

With this exposure, you can work in startups for about 2-3 years. Then you can go for any MNC since you'll hands on experience, so the time gaps/delays during your course of study doesn't matter.

Sir, I'm pursuing MBA final year - Marketing/HR specialisation and want to do an internship in the field related. Please suggest.-Srilakshmi, Bengaluru

The pre-placement activity should start from second year to prepare for the internship. Internship in a startup is always better to understand how things actually work in real life... by doing so you can also check your interests and strengths. Rit Educational & Health Care Services,

Hyderabad is looking for interns who are pursuing MBA HR/Marketing or MA/M.Sc. psychology for a period of three months. You can check this link http://bit.ly/12koqWS to apply. If you perform better, the company will hire you at the end of your internship.

I'm pursuing B.Tech- ECE IInd year. I observed that my seniors are not getting hired after their academics. My cousin who passed out in 2012 in ECE is still struggling. How do I secure myself with a job and not stay unemployed?-Pravallika, SR Nagar

In fact the Engineering colleges ought to know that placement activity or focus in the final year is sheer futile and waste. The pre-placement activity should start from the very second semester to prepare for the students for an internship. Work in the summer vacation to get the taste of technology. Make sure you approach startup companies in Hyderabad

(http://hyderabad.startupweekend.org/) and Bengaluru. You would get hands on experience of technology and apply what you study. Once you are back from your vacation, spare 4 hours in a week, write your blog on technology using WordPress

http://wordpress.com/. Use Google alert http://www. google.co.in/alerts to be on the self learning mode. By the time you pass out, you would have skills that would benefit you during an interview. You would know where you want to join and the position you want to apply for.

Design a career road map in the process to which company you want to be working for. Validate all the information with real professionals. Keep track of the Barcamps http://barcamp.org/ where all it is happening, join them to meet up, they will share their ideas. Share this with other friends in your batch for group learning.

I am now in second year of engineering. There are no campus placements going on in my college. Suggest me to prepare myself to be Industry-ready and start my career in a better way.- Ramya, Nalgonda

Many students start preparing for a career when they are in the last semester of engineering. But it must be started from the very first semester. When the internships during summer are allocated at a startup company, then you will gain knowledge as to how things actually work in an organisation.

Remain in self-learning mode always beyond the classroom syllabus. Use intelligent tools like Google Alert like to get real time information; remain curious to be updated. Avoid the street side IT institutes for class assignment and training. Writing skills should be worked upon; it is the only way to have an internalised learning.

Start making a blog from the very first semester and see yourself becoming a specialist in the domain of your interest. Never do cut, copy, paste blog. Attend relevant workshops or events and meet industry experts. Also join technical forums/groups, engage in dialogue with expertise in various fields and acquire knowledge.

I am a B.Com- Computers student… I understand B.Tech (IT/CSE) students have more opportunities than those pursuing B.Com- Computers. But I am very much interested in IT field. Please suggest what I can do to.-Keerthi, Guntur

Generally recruiters prefer graduate engineers with an expectation that they might be well exposed to real time environment through academic projects. But the reality is different. Many are depending on copy paste projects rather than coming up with their own ideas. So you need not worry about your qualification.

The best way to start your career is by doing an internship in the field related to yours to get real time exposure.Follow www.letsintern.com, www.internshala.com, www.facebook.com/passion4career to know internship opportunities.

Apply for these internships, forget about your qualification, and be confident on the skills you own. Once you get relevant experience in different projects, you can demonstrate your skills and thereby you can easily win the job.

By:kamal pabba