Internships are essential for students since this is where your learnings come into action, paving the way for further learning. Internships can expose you to powerful professional experiences and find your interests. As a student intern, you meet passionate and talented people to collaborate with and take as mentors. With all such benefits, internships become essential to any course you are doing, be it STEM courses, technical courses, or creative courses.
The size of the company you intern with doesn’t matter since big and small companies have their pros and cons for student interns. For example, you can intern at a new start-up and still get many learning opportunities and hands-on experience.
Found great startups on some of the best internship websites but feel conflicted about interning at a startup? Here are the top 10 benefits of interning at a startup for students:
Know if you actually like the industry
Sometimes, the industries that intrigue you theoretically may not interest you when you start working in them. Similarly, even the best and most popular industries may not fit you well. So, how do you ensure you make the best career decision? This is where interning at a startup can be beneficial. Start-ups can give you the opportunity to experience a specific industry from close while also giving you a safe space to make mistakes since they frequently hire students. This valuable experience can help ensure you like the work and want to continue your career journey in that industry.
Start-ups give you ‘real’ responsibilities
With lots of people to get things done, companies deemed industry giants may not be a great place to start for a student since there’s not much work to be handled by interns. However, there’s a lot to do and learn in startup internships as there are only a limited number of employees. Student interns are thus responsibilities that are important and affect the company’s work during their employment. Real responsibilities make things more serious and require you to use essential skills like critical thinking and problem-solving. The extra accountability makes it a valuable professional experience.
You get exposure to all aspects
In a start-up, since a limited number of people work, every employee and intern has to do more than their job role at some point. This is as exciting as it sounds, and if you are naturally proactive, it can expose you to various aspects during your internship. In start-ups, the limitations and rigidity of working in only one role are eradicated, making it a more holistic experience for student interns. This experience can help you differentiate and choose between various available job roles.
The company grows, and you grow
One of the greatest traits of start-ups is the continuous growth opportunities. Students who do internships at scalable, growing start-up companies tend to get more opportunities to grow as professional individuals. As the start-up starts expanding, there are more chances that the company will offer them permanent employment after their internship since they already know how things work there. Thus startup internships are an excellent opportunity for any student looking to kick start their career.
Initiate, act, and get things done!
Since most start-ups are still growing, there’s scope for doing new things. If you have a great idea, your company might even let you take the initiative and start new projects. This may not be very feasible in a bigger and more established company since their workflow is set and assignments are pre-defined. Interning at a startup will definitely give you leadership experiences where you act swiftly and autonomously to get things done.
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The ‘cool’ office environment
When it comes to flexible working environments, start-ups top the list. Start-ups are also hugely known for their enthusiastic and passionate work culture as they hire many young people. The pro-activity of colleagues and flexibility in a start-up can create an amazingly dynamic working environment and culture that can be easily deemed ‘cool’.
Bonus: Most startup internships have no formal dress codes or uniforms, i.e. you can slip into your best (or the comfiest) casual clothes and go to the office in style!
More networking opportunities
Since the workforce is dynamic, young and proactive, networking opportunities in a start-up are higher than anywhere else. Small teams offer student interns a more intimate working experience with their colleagues. This can allow you to better network with like-minded people and forge fruitful professional relationships that might lead to future collaborations and creative projects. Similarly, the lack of strict hierarchies in startup internships can also give you the opportunity to network with senior employees in the company and learn valuable lessons from their career experiences.
Your inputs become valuable
One of the biggest advantages of working with small teams in a start-up is that you feel more heard. As the team works together, you get a great platform to share your ideas and inputs. With large corporates and huge teams, this experience might not be accessible to employees, especially student interns. So, there’s another reason for your startup internships.
Personalised feedback
Feedback and constructive criticism is a huge part of a successful professional life. Feedback doesn’t just help you improve your work, but they also give your career path a definite direction. And what’s better than feedback? Personalised, thoughtful feedback that teaches you something new! Being very small and close-knit, start-up teams can provide you with personalised feedback. They might even offer you an overall professional overview for you to understand what you did write and where you can improve more. This can lead to a brighter, better, more amazing future as a professional!
You get an overall idea of start-ups
In today’s creative and equally competitive world, building your start-up has become one of the greatest ways to have a more fulfilling career. If you aspire to be a start-up owner, interning at a startup is necessary. While your startup internships go on, you don’t just gain valuable work experience, but you also get to see the ‘start-up life’ from a very close angle. This gives you an idea of how exactly start-ups run and how things work inside one. This valuable experience and exposure to the workings of a running start-up company definitely come in handy when starting a new business yourself and trying to build your empire.
Internships at startup companies can be a fantastic experience if you find a company with great potential. You can experience how the industry works while also being able to give your ideas and practice skills like leadership autonomously through startup internships. So, make the most out of the dynamic, uplifting, and learning-centric work environment that start-ups often offer and pave the way for a glorious career path!
