Students’ Speak: What “internship” means for an MBA student

In my opinion, every student must intern for at least six months to understand the role that you could fit in in the future. Once you get a clear idea about your role, start to contribute to the organisation.

We all, especially students, are familiar with the term “Internship”. While some MBA students might have already done or would be pursuing internship there will be some who are waiting for a suitable internship to get exposure for the future career.

Here I am going to discuss with you my opinion about an internship that would help you get an idea of what you need to do before you join in any internship programmes.

I am a student pursuing post-graduation diploma in management. So, doing an internship is mandatory for my course. However, if you are planning to intern so that you could enrich skills and practical knowledge, you can go for it. But, before applying for an internship programme, read in detail about the role and responsibilities that are being offered. During internships, students are generally asked to work on projects related to marketing, sales, finance and multimedia.

In my opinion, every student must intern for at least six months to understand the role that you could fit in in the future. Once you get a clear idea about your role, start to contribute to the organisation. In most of the cases, you will get a project manager or a senior to assist you. Take their help and keep in your mind that if you have no idea about what to do and how to do, then it would be better for you to discuss it with your senior. This will help you learn new things.

Now, let’s talk about the benefits. Doing an internship prepares you for the professional field where you wish to go in future. It helps you get hands-on experience and get an idea about how to deal with a challenging situation.

Many companies recruit candidates on the basis of their internship profile. They may ask you about your role over there or anything directly or indirectly related to your internship programme. It helps them to decide whether you are appropriate for that designation where they are looking for the candidates to recruit. This way internship gives you extra weightage at the time of your placement or an interview. Another thing is that many companies offer their interns to be their employee after the completion of their internship programme on the basis of their performance mainly. This is called Pre-Placement Offer (PPO). So, if you want to be the employee of any organisation, you may look for whether they are providing internship or not. If you find that they recruit interns, then go for it. What you should keep in your mind is the learnings what you are getting and how you are performing. At last, I would like to say you, while you are in your internship programme try to learn, try to perform and create an impression.

About the Author:

Abhinaba Parui is a final-year student at FOSTIIMA Business School pursuing PGDM. A Kolkata-based student, he is currently working as a campus ambassador with Oysterconnect.com.