Sneha Verma, a student of one of the premier schools in Dehradun, just passed her IX standard exams and was excited to start with her class X. It was going to be a crucial chapter of her academic career not only because of the board exams this session but also because this was the year after which she’ll have to take the first step towards her professional career by choosing the stream for her higher education. She knew she’ll choose science stream and become a software developer just like her elder brother. However, she wanted to take an informed decision before she went on with it. One day, she got to know about internships from her cousin and was fascinated to know about the kind of possibilities they have to offer.

 

Summer vacation was coming up and she wanted to start her internship with it. So, without wasting any more time, she started applying to internships of various profiles. After facing 8 rejections, she was finally hired for a social media marketing internship with an ed-tech startup. Her work included managing the company’s instagram presence by ideating and creating engaging posts for their audience. After the initial struggle, she soon learned the basics of her work with the help of her considerate mentor and was able to create 6 posts during her 1-month internship, 2 out of which were exceptionally well received by their audience.

 

During her internship tenure, Sneha discovered her true creative potential, learned the basics of social media marketing and was introduced to other aspects of marketing including digital and content marketing. She found internships to be the perfect way to explore her options and pursued more internships along with managing her studies. These experiences made it exceptionally easy for her to make the choice after her X boards and while she was previously going to opt for the science stream, now she had developed a keen interest in marketing and thus, decided to pick the commerce stream finally.

 

After going through Sneha’s story, you must be wondering that internships are meant for college students, then why are school students as young as class X students pursuing them. Yes, as per the convention, internships are supposed to be done by college students. However, internships are slowly gaining popularity among school students as well. They are more keen on taking an informed career decision and find internships to be the best way to explore their options.

 

For a more clear understanding, I’ve enlisted 3 major ways how internships could help class X students:

 

1. Choose the right stream: It could be extremely early to make major career decisions for class X students. Despite the same, as per our existing education system, students are supposed to make one of the biggest career decisions by choosing the stream after class X boards. While reforming the education system is not in your hands, you could definitely make an informed decision when the time comes to choose a stream. Being short-term, internships offer you the chance to explore different fields and test your interests before you have to make the final decision.

 

2. A competitive edge: Just imagine how ahead you’ll be of your peers if you started your career early. Sounds amazing, right? Internships allow you to work in real-time professional world, handle real responsibilities, and learn essential soft and technical skills by actually deploying them. These gained skills and work experiences could be a great add-on to your resume, which will put you at a competitive advantage over your peers especially during your college admissions in India and abroad as well as when you are applying for your dream internship or job.

 

3. Corporate grooming: Internships being one of your first work experiences introduce you to the professional world. In addition to learning professional etiquettes, you learn the nitty-gritties of corporate communication and the kind of skills and attitude that are expected from an employee as per the current market trends. This is how internships make you a professional way before you actually step into the corporate world to start a full-fledged career.

 

You must be wondering, if you are attending school, then how would you be able to pursue an internship? Well, your concern is valid. It would be difficult for you to pursue a full-time internship during school days. In this case, you could look for part-time or work-from-home opportunities. However, if you want to gain corporate experience in a real-time environment, you could do an in-office internship during your summer vacation. So, if you are confused about making a career choice and want to stay a step ahead of your peers, go grab an internship and discover your professional self.

 

Courtesy: Sarvesh Agrawal is the founder and CEO of Internshala – an internship and training platform (internshala.com)