The Importance of an Internship
How It Could Be the First Step to Landing Your Dream Career.
Everyone tells you at university to get as much industry experience as possible – and they are not wrong! Work experience in your chosen field is essential to boost your employability, to meet new people, create contacts as well as figuring out your own path and your own journey as to where your career will take you.
Choosing your career path can be scary and daunting, it’s something that you (hopefully) will be doing for many years to come, you want something fun and enjoyable as well as a challenge and a place for you to grow and learn. Choosing something that’s right for you that your future self will thank you for isn’t an easy task (mixed with the added bonus of a global pandemic!) which is why an internship appealed to me for multiple reasons.
Working in the industry you are interested in, watching how day-to-day operations run and are managed as well as giving a variety of tasks a go are only a few of the ways in which you can benefit from an internship. Graduating from university can be scary, applying for jobs that need years of experience when you are just starting out seems like an impossible start but completing an internship allows you to take the first step, show your interest, prove your commitment and meet some really great people.
This is how my internship started at Goho. After weeks of looking at job adverts, I took a proactive approach to reach out to companies that had similar values to mine. Taking time to research into what they do, who they are and the work they do can help you to decide if it would be something you enjoy. Show the employer you are interested by finding contact details and emailing with an interest for their work and see if you can help in any way. Forward-thinking and putting yourself out there will only make you stand out – in a good way.
From that one initial email, I am now writing this blog post as a Public Relations and Marketing intern. Helping and assisting the loveliest team, engaging and creating social media posts, researching, and helping with press coverage for clients are some of the exciting roles I get to participate in. Working on a variety of tasks opens your eyes as to what you like doing and what isn’t your cup of tea and better to learn that now rather than stick with something because you didn’t try anything different.
I couldn’t have wished or asked to work with a nicer group of people. Understandably, there is a sense of nervousness with meetings being virtual and not having personal interaction but after that first meeting started I completely forgot it was a virtual interaction. There was and still is a real sense of togetherness that has carried through each meeting and each day I have worked.
From a personal opinion, I think internships are invaluable. You couldn’t really ask for more: gaining industry experience, learning each day as well as having fun, and being surrounded by lovely people. It’s easy to want to fast forward your life and rush to where you think you ought to be, but in my honest opinion completing an internship has given me skills, knowledge, and confidence that couldn’t be taught in the classroom.
