Internships: How to get started?
Why internships?
First of all, it is very important to understand why you want to do an internship. Many students say that they want to do internships for experience, which is another way of saying that they want to do something so they don’t feel useless.
Another major reason is to build the CV. And again, we ask you the same uncomfortable question: What are you making your CV for?
Now, we understand that there are no easy answers here. But that does not need to make you stressed. Instead, you can look at this as an adventure. An exploration that will give you insights on what career path would make most sense for you.
So, how do you get started?
First, we want to interview people. Yes, not giving interviews but taking interviews.
Start a podcast (anchor.fm) and invite your seniors or working professionals in industry as guest in your podcast. Ask them the questions that you are curious about. What kind of work do they do? Do they get time on the weekend? What is the career path like? What advice do they have for a college student who wants to follow in their footsteps? Who else would they recommend you interview for your podcast.
This will serve 2 purposes. One, it will make your CV shine out. If you interview people from McKinsey, JP Morgan, BCG, Bain, etc, you can mention your guest list on the CV. Then you can share the high-quality episodes with your college batch mates which will create a virtuous cycle.
Secondly, if you interview one guest a week, then very soon, you can get exposure to multiple industries and have in-depth conversations with many professionals. A lot of times internship and career opportunities will come your way without your even asking for them.
This also changes the context. If you approach someone from a networking or internship-seeking mindset, they would not be that interested. But there are many seniors and working professionals who would love to get the respect of being a podcast guest. You can even host the event live on Zoom.
Let us know what you think of this approach. Tell us the things that come up in your mind as objections.
See you soon,
The Passionately Curious Team
PS. Here's a message from our sponsor:
The MBA Mentorship Program is an All-in-one Personalised Mentorship Program for CAT, GMAT and Placements. The program is designed and taught by our founder Saurabh Mithal who is an FMS, Delhi and JP Morgan alumnus with more than 9 years of experience in the education sector. It’s one of the most highly reviewed personalised program for students preparing for MBA.
Passionately Curious has been a life changing decision for me. While preparing for GMAT/CAT, we learn what matters the most for these exams. And this is not even the best part. What I like most is how Saurabh makes us aware of concepts and tid-bits related to career and life, which no one else would have done otherwise. He encourages us to proactively work upon the things that matter most.
- Maitreyee Katre, Lady Shri Ram College (current student)
You can look at more student testimonials on this page.
We are offering a 1-week free trial to our program to limited students. You can register for the trial here. By the end of our week together, we hope you'll have more insight on whether you’re ready to leap.
Trial starts next week on Monday. Registrations close on Sunday.
Apply for trial here.
