Relentless change in the business world has been accompanied by an equally dramatic need for business school students to prepare themselves for taking on future challenges. The right internship is one of them and often opens the door to a desirable full-time placement after graduation for MBA students. It is an accepted corporate practice to take students for internship and select the best among them as future employees by offering Pre-placement Offers. Internships for MBA students are an accepted practice school in India and a very important component of experiential learning that a student must undergo.

On the educational institutions side, recently Koneru Lakshmiah University, a private university entered into a memorandum of understanding with IBSN Inc. USA, a multinational corporation in global taxation for providing internship opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students at a handsome remuneration of Rs.10,000 per month on a long term basis. The arrangement also provides for placement opportunities for deserving students. It is an example of how industry academia partnerships are shaping up in the globalised and liberalized economy. This is likely to be the trend in the years to come.

Most Indian B-Schools and departments of Management of Universities do not have the practice of admitting students with corporate experience for their MBA programs. By and large the students admitted are fresh from their graduate colleges and lack exposure to companies. On the other hand, companies are looking forward for certain amount of corporate experience/exposure for recruiting the MBA students for placements. Some companies have a policy to employ certain percentage of MBA students through internships only. Internship as a mechanism for partnering between industry and educational institutions is here to stay and flourish. Most MBA institutions have credited internships now as compared to a decade ago. This is done to ensure the internships are taken seriously by the students and companies derive value through internships. The companies, on their part, are offering paid internships to ensure student involvement, targeted outcomes and treat interns as on-the-job trainees providing real business experience. Internships thus facilitate business school students gain work experience demanded by employers.

Most business schools provide internship for duration of two to four months. Many good business schools offer faculty supervised internships. This would ensure faculty exposure to companies and strengthens the industry academia networking apart from guidance and mentoring of student during internship. The objective of the faculty supervised internship is to make it a rigorous experience and placement oriented.

Importance of Summer Internship

Summer internship program helps in experiential learning for a student in an organizational environment which serves his academic requirements and also provides valuable hands-on experience in a chosen area of interest. Internships are focused on what a student learns, not what the student does. Faculty and Company supervised Internships for a specified period of time with a focus on learning executive skills attempt to bridge the gap between theoretical learning in the classroom and company practices.
Power of Internships:

Students benefit in multiple ways through effective internships. Value addition through internships includes the following:

1. A good performance in internship fetches higher academic credentials, particularly for those who are practice oriented. In universities and institutions where internships are credited, this adds to their marks or CGPA. Even if the internship is not credited, a student should take it serious as internship performance counts heavily on placement.

2. A good platform to reflect on theories and concepts learnt in the classroom to observe and apply in real life situations. It reinforces the classroom learning through practice.

3. Provides firsthand experience into company environment, business processes and markets.

4. Successful internships build self confidence of students and enhance their self esteem. It helps in behavioral modifications and emotional balance. Students learn to be independent and responsible.

5. Students gain new skills – cognitive, emotional and social. Learn corporate etiquettes, understand corporate culture – all through own experiences and observations.

6. Stipendiary internships provide sustenance to financially weak students. Good companies provide handsome stipend and performance based incentives.

7. Leads to self discovery of strengths and weaknesses while facing the challenges on-the-job. This coupled with coaching and mentoring by faculty members and company executives would shape up the future manager.

8. Intern gets a chance to network with executives in a company who can help in paving the way for future opportunities.

9. Internships give a feel of career opportunities and lay the foundation for career planning.

The power of internships is that they mould the business school students into an effective manager.

Summer placements are available in a variety of functional areas in various sectors. Sales and marketing, investment banking, financial services, general management, information technology, retail management, supply chain management, etc. are just an indicative list. The sectors which are buzzing are retail, banking, pharma, telecom, infrastructure, media, healthcare, FMCG, manufacturing, etc. For those who are ready to take on challenges, the opportunities are endless.

1. Set Personal Goals: Start with the end in mind. Identify your interests. Analyze your strengths and weaknesses. Write down the areas where you want to improve. Set goals in each of those areas and break them down into weekly targets. This would enable review of achievements on a weekly basis. The goals set should fit into the company and your institute’s framework. The focus of your internship is to accomplish your goals. Goals should be set in advance; with clear thought; realistic and attainable.

2. Prepare your professional resume: Internship is your first placement. Prepare a resume with a professional touch. It must impress prospective employer. When faced with an interview, convince your employer that you would be a good intern. This is the first time you will market yourself and do it aggressively.

3. Win your parent’s confidence: Patents, at times, stand between you and a good internship opportunity for reasons such as being away from home, cost of living in a new location, safety, food habits, health, etc. You must give confidence to your parents that you are capable of handling the apprehensions they have either on your own or through your employer or your institute.

4. Learn about the industry and the company: Learn about the company and the industry in which it operates. Company website, published documents such as annual reports, online corporate directories, etc. would come in handy. Company’s size, history, main products and services, the names of top executives and current news are useful information. Previous interns of the company from your institute are also a good source of information.

5. Have a job description: Learn about your position and understand the job description for your internship. It is important to focus on what is expected of you by your employer. It will also help other departments in the organization to support, guide and appreciate what you are doing.

6. Find a Mentor: A mentor helps to be focused on learning, accomplishments, guide in tricky situations and help discuss ideas, ask questions, etc.

7. Learn all legal concerns regarding the internship program: Learn about the legal concerns and the risks involve that internship work may involve. Lack of knowledge on legal concerns leads to stress and affect your confidence and attitude towards working in corporate world.

8. Reinforce relevant concepts: Reflect on the concepts learnt in the classroom and relate it to your experiences. This would help in reinforcement of knowledge and better understanding of corporate practices in a scientific manner.

9. Relationship management: Develop constructive working relationship with company executives that will allow you to excel in your internship. Practice to communicate to key people the right information at right time. Take guidance from faculty supervisor, when in doubt.

10. Have periodic meetings with your Supervisor(s): Take initiative to have regular meetings with your faculty and company supervisors. Make your meetings interesting by providing valuable information, innovative ideas, bringing freshness to approach, sharing your experiences and lessons you have learned. Submit periodic progress reports. Remember to be a good listener during these interactions and learn as much as you can during these meetings.

11. Go the Extra Miles: Exceed the employer’s expectations. This will ensure favorable appraisals and a possible full-time position. The opportunities are endless – giving additional assistance, taking on extra responsibilities, working a little harder or longer, etc.

12. Leave with tangible accomplishments: Accomplishment of tangible results adds to your resume and your career portfolio. Sales targets achieved, distributors identified, computerized systems developed, training programs organized, industry trends tracked, etc. will add much needed value to your profile.

13. Respect the company rules and culture: Learn to respect the rules, regulations, traditions and culture of the organization where you are deployed for internship. Do not criticize the organization or the people, even when you are not in agreement with something that is happening around.

14. Aim for pre-placement offer: Your strategic goal is to complete internship successfully and earn a pre-placement offer (PPO).

Let the coming summer be a valuable learning experience for young managers in the making.