The Power Of Internships

If experience is the new entry requirement for securing a professional job in this era, how do you intend to get this experience as a newly graduate?

I have heard many of our graduates saying if we can't get a job, where will we get the experience? If what you want is to get a basic experience that will help you land a job, then you don't go out there looking for jobs, but you go out there looking for where to do an internship.

What you need first is an internship and not a job if you want to engage in a professional career. But if you're looking for any manner of job that can put food on your table, then there's no need for prior experience. You don't need the experience to do a security job neither do you need the experience to be a cleaner.

But if what you want is a professional job or even entrepreneurship, then you'll need a basic experience that will help you start from somewhere. The worst thing that will happen to you in any professional career is not knowing the basic way of doing the job.

You don't need to know everything before you start, but if you know the basics, as you keep doing the job, you'll keep learning and be getting better and more experienced.

I'll explain here how an internship can help you find an easy footing in getting into the labor market through jobs and entrepreneurship.

Preparations for your first professional job as a graduate.

During my internship as a computer engineering student with Acet technologies, I taught computer application programs to students in the computer training section and also worked with other engineers in networking and fixing bad computers at the engineering section of the company.

The experience I acquired from those two sections, is the basic experience that I need to operate in a computer engineering job role in an average enterprise out there.

Few months before my degree exams, I got an offer from a family friend that's struggling with her IT company in Lagos. Immediately I finished my exams and did my clearance, I went to start work immediately at the company as the manager.

The experience I got from my internship helped me in handling the technical issues of the company, but my inexperience in managerial roles made me meet some difficulties in handling older staff in the company as a newly graduated 23-years-old engineer with just an internship experience.

I might not be the best option for the managerial role in the company, but I'm not devastated because I made some positive changes in the company by fixing some technical issues that are drawing the company back.

The experience I got from my internship helped me to know where to start, in such a scenario that demands real-time experience and not just classroom knowledge.

Therefore, in such a situation where you're setting out to start your first professional job role as a graduate, the real-time experience you had during your internship will help you to perform, starting with the basics.

That's why employers are looking for graduates with some prior experience in any given professional role. Our article titled "Begin, by working for experience, not for money" gives further explanations on this issue.

Though, I used the engineering profession as an example, the same is applicable in other professions as well. Be it in finance, business administration, industrial chemistry, architecture, mass communication, and many others.

School authorities do not set out an internship period for you to make money or enjoy yourself, but for you to get real-life experience in what you've been learning all along in the classroom. Go get real-time experience in your course of study, if you want to build a career path with it.

Setting out for entrepreneurship

You might ask since I've finished school and wants to start my enterprise, why do I need to work under someone again? Now, this is the reason. During your period of internship, you'll learn the business aspect of your profession and some hidden pitfalls to avoid.

Remember, an internship is different from learning a new skill. To learn a new skill, you have to pay tuition to learn. That's why you're in school. But an internship is to learn how to polish and sell the skill you've acquired in school. Though we learn through mistakes, you don't need to make all the mistakes by yourself before you learn the basics.

There are some you need to learn from others who have made similar mistakes before you. This will help you not to burn out quickly in your entrepreneurial journey. If your entrepreneurial journey is filled with mistakes most especially at the beginning when you're not yet established, you might get discouraged from being an entrepreneur.

So, you need to work for a while under an experienced entrepreneur in other to learn the survival tricks in your profession. Learning the skill of your profession is one thing, and knowing how to survive in the competitive world of entrepreneurship is another thing.

When I decided to go deeper into the world of sales and business, I resigned from my engineering work and go get some experience in a mobile phone retail company located at computer village, Lagos. The period I spent over there helped me to learn a lot of things that I might not know if I didn't come close.

It helped me to identify some common pitfalls that are usually dotted along the path of every businessman. It's now left for me to discipline myself in other to avoid them.

So, even though you want to venture into entrepreneurship, you need to work under someone that is more experienced than you in that career path and gain real-time experiences that will help you to survive when you eventually set out on your own.

Internship gives you the basic experience, but it's your passion and creativity that will determine how far you'll go with the experience.

Go get a real-time operational experience from a more experienced person, so that you'll avoid making unnecessary mistakes that are capable of ruining your entrepreneurial pursuits.

Meanwhile, if you will like to gain some entrepreneurial experience while in school? Our internship program might be a good place for you to start. Click HERE to apply.