Internships – are you starting your professional career on a wrong note?
Caution: – This post contains lot of good (& free) advice. (It’s always a silly thing to give advice, but to give good advice is fatal – Oscar Wilde)
When Internshala started working on its vision of bringing a cultural change with respect to Internships in India, we thought the challenge would be steeper on employers’ side – how to convince them that it was to their advantage to give the young, energetic, innovative and passionate students a chance to work with them during summers and experience the real world first hand. Looks like we were looking at only one side of the coin!
A few months and couple of poor experiences later, we realize that there is an equal, if not more challenging, task ahead – how to inculcate a professional & responsible attitude among the students so that because of few bad apples the entire student community does not get tagged as irresponsible lot. In the couple of instances that I am referring to, the selected students did not show up on the scheduled day of joining after having initially accepted the internship offer and did not even care to inform the employers about their decision. This is a very bitter experience for the employers and examples like these do not bode well for the future of internships in India. One may not realize but there is lot of time, energy and planning that goes in designing an internship project and selecting the right candidate for it – if it all goes waste, companies would be right in questioning whether it’s worth anyone’s time and effort to invest in internships?
I am hopeful that examples like these are more of exceptions than the rule, and together we all can bring about the change by following some basic etiquettes of professional behavior –
1. Think before applying to an internship and apply only if you are serious. If not, step aside gracefully and let others give it a shot. How would you feel if your dream internship was taken up by another student who was not even serious about it?
2. Even if you have late realization about faded interest in an internship, do let the employer know about your changed mind set when contacted. Going incommunicado is not the solution – saying “No” is perfectly acceptable answer. It’s lot better than keeping the employer in dark and guessing.
3. Think before accepting an internship offer and accept only if you intend to join – how would you feel if employer continued to look for better students post giving you an offer and told you one day before joining that you were no longer required. Won’t you feel betrayed?
4. If you have a change of heart after accepting an offer, do let the employer know at the earliest possible so that another candidate can be found and given a chance. Nothing hurts more than a last minute decline or even worse a no show without any prior communication. This projects a very poor professional image of you and is plain unacceptable
5. While communicating a decline to an employer, keep it professional. There is no reason to weave stories of personal/family troubles, how you have tried your best to join but could not etc. A simple decline expressing regret should do.
I have said this before – it’s a small, connected world and people have elephant like memories. An unprofessional conduct on your part may hamper future career prospects and is definitely not a right start to your career. Worse it may help in creating negative stereotypes about the student community at large or specific institutes’ students in particular – why risk it? Afterall, a promise made is a debt unpaid!
Disagree, have something to say, ask, or critique – post it right away. Some of you may have already started with your internships – Internshala would love to hear about your experiences. How are others (who are not going for an internship) planning to spend the summers?
