An internship is a method of on-the-job training for white-collar and professional careers, similar to apprenticeships for trade and vocational jobs. Internships are beneficial for students to gain experience in a particular career. Internships can be a significant benefit to employers as well, since experienced interns often need little or no training when they begin regular employment. Some interns even find permanent jobs with the organizations in which they intern. Many companies offer interns an hourly wage or weekly stipend. Paid internships are more common in certain fields and with specific types of organizations. Private companies, large corporations, law firms, and real estate firms tend to be more likely to offer paid internships than not-for-profit organizations or the government sector. An overseas internship can be the experience of a lifetime, but finding the right internship can be a daunting task. Consider the five search strategies in the guest post below.
College and university students often dream of crossing the border and gaining international exposure as quickly as possible. Mostly this applies to students who come from lesser developed economic countries or those who have the passion of travelling and exploring different cultures and countries. Research suggests the majority of Asian candidates apply to the American and European countries for exchange programs, internships, job opportunities, and other forms of migration. From the list of sources through which continents can be switched, one way where heavy financial investment is not required is acquiring an international internship program seat, which pays its interns for the job at hand. This may seem a far-fetched idea since competition is high with applicants of all levels coming in from across the globe, but it is not impossible. Planned smartly and executed in a timely manner, these 5 tips are effective keys of success…
Start early and prepare wisely
Most internship programs open for international interns operate in the summer. For a program that is scheduled to commence in June, international candidates should begin preparing and researching six months in advance, earliest by January. Field specific and experience related internship programs are better to target; with some amount of relevant experience the candidate can better research sectors and internship programs abroad that are designed specifically for the grooming and development of related skills and course.
Networking via social websites
The corporate as well as personal contacts world has shrunk down all thanks to the social networking websites. One should post and re-post about the interest and destination where the desired internship is offered. Through proper networking and getting in touch with a real human, instead of sending in resumes blindly to hundreds of website weekly, the results attained are far more realistic and optimistic. Via networking it is easy to communicate and get proper guidelines and step ups of how and where to send the resume along with the essential information that would help in taking the lead.
Crisp cover letter and resume
The only means to short list the initial pool of resumes and cover letters received is reviewing the strength of content in it. Jotting down impractical and irrelevant points to an international company would simply lead to rejection in the initial screening process. Add value to the application and apply with creativity. Rising trend of video resumes have made touch point and contact easier. Applicants should be careful that all information given in the video or written CV and cover letter should align to the applied company’s operations in some way or the other. The expected goals and outcome along with value addition should also be clearly stated without exaggerated phrases.
Highlight cultural diversity
For paid international internships one great aspect is the cultural diversity bought by its candidates to the international firm. Highlighting the relevance and application of one’s cultural values according to the firm in a convincing manner is necessary. For example, an applicant who is from textiles industry can mention the substantial cost-saving techniques used in printing and screening done locally and how workers are trained for it. Along with this, the applicant can mention aligning these cost saving strategies to technologically advanced concepts and management theories of the company the applicant can deliver and emerge new profit making and beneficial trends in both countries.
Targeted applications
A minimum batch of 20 targeted, industry focused internship applications should be sent across for the summer tenure. Although it is true that applying to as many places as possible is correlated to the probability of application acceptance, the place where it has been applied is also important. In a span of six months if the applicant is able to develop contacts via networking and applies to 20 tight industries focused international paid internship programs with highly customized CVs and cover letters, chances for acceptance and approval are higher than expected.
About the Author: Adam is a deeply knowledgeable and proficient writer who likes to educate people through his highly informative writing which he submits on various sites like TheInterngroup.