Interns have a lot to contribute these days – Hangrr.com

Trying to bridge the industry-academia gap through his internship program, Rishabh Khandelwal, COO and Co-founder of Hangrr.com, talks about his experience of working with interns and how they have always been a constant source of buzzing energy and creativity. Below are the excerpts of the talk.

IS: What is your philosophy behind having an internship programme at Hangrr?

Rishabh: When young interns come on-board, we usually find them bringing in fresh perspectives and ideas — this is something we are on a constant look for. Interns are buzzing with creativity and bring in a whole new energy to work atmosphere.

We also hire interns from UK and USA and we feel the industry-academia gap is more prominent when it comes to Indian students. We feel an internship is always a great way to induct students to the world of real work and this in-turn enhances their employ-ability.

IS: What are the skills/attributes that you look for in a candidate while hiring interns?

Rishabh: We are always on a lookout for students who can think out of the box. Whether applying for code development or for fashion blogging, domain knowledge is a must and we always judge applicants knowledge and ability in their respective work of interest before engaging with them. Finally, perseverance and hard work are something which cannot be taught, but are attitudes one must inherit.

IS: What has been the contribution of interns in your company? Any major task that you have done with the help of interns?

Rishabh: Well, as I mentioned earlier also, the biggest contribution is that they bring in fresh perspective and creative energy. We design and plan for new projects when we are opening internships. In most of the cases interns are able to accomplish the part of work allocated to them and collectively we pull out the project.

IS: In your opinion, what are the major take-aways for a student from an internship ?

Rishabh: Network, network and more networks. Internships are one of the way to sell your skills to the company directly. In my experience, we end up offering Job to 50% of the students who have interned with us in the past. An internship is a great opportunity not just to gain work-experience and experience certificates, but also a golden chance to closely work with the company and in turn get good recommendations, networks and introductions. Of course, it goes without saying that internships provide you great learning experience and a lot to speak about in your future job interviews.

IS: Any funny/weird incident that happened with any of your interns that you would like to share with us?

Rishabh: Sometimes interns are going out for city visits and at other times they even have to work late nights. But at the end of the day, they do enjoy what they are working on and their greatest accomplishments come when they see tangible outcomes of their hard work.

IS: A message that you would like give to the companies/start-ups running internship programmes?

Rishabh: Hiring has no short cuts. Have patience and take out time to go through students profiles carefully. Screen them and understand their expectations very clearly. As a company you want to nurture students whose goals are aligned to yours. Understand how internships work with different institutes.

IS: What is your message to students who are looking for internships?

Rishabh: First, keep looking! Ask your friends and professors to suggest you some. Enhance your CV with employable skills in your domain. Sometimes LinkedIn profile becomes a point for making decision for many companies, so keep that neat and updated. It’s all about how well you can present yourself, so understand what you really want to pursue and then go ahead doing it with all the passion!

If you’re an employer and want to share your experience of running an internship programme, or want to hire interns for your own organization, drop a line at shadab@internshala.com. We’d love to hear from you.

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