Guide to off-campus internships

Internships are an important phase in any student’s life. Internships give a student a sneak peek into what his/her job role will turn out like, it gives them a taste of corporate life and importantly test their interest and abilities in their field of interests.

Being in IITs , one gets an opportunity to intern at leading companies especially during the summers after their third year. These on-campus internships are streamlined processes with certain pattern of tests and interview associated with each company.

Turn of new year, there are usually a huge number of students still looking for opportunities and companies to intern at. IITians are still looking out of interns off-campus for various reasons. These reasons include :

1. Couldn’t crack one on-campus.
2. Intern profile of relevant interest hasn’t come on-campus ( I belonged to this category in my third year )

Preparation

Before one starts applying, he/she has to be prepared on following points:

1. Decide on intern profile(s) — If the exact profile is a niche, you can expand your domain to relevant profiles to gain some experience.
2. Prepare your CV— It’s suggested to have a one-page crisp CV targeted to the profile in which you are seeking your intern.
3. Knowing your pros and cons makes pitching and defending yourself in interviews easier.
4. Prepare a mail body-A short, to the point, content , which will form a major chunk of your mail body
5. Get a professional mail ID- Ensure it’s name isn’t like those default gmail ID’s or kiddish. It’s rare but try getting a firstname_lastname mail ID’s.
6. Preference of city/stipend- While this isn’t something to lay a lot of emphasis on, it’s good to have a place and number in mind.
7. Update your LinkedIn Profile — LinkedIn is going to play a crucial role in your professional life enabling professional contact across companies helping you in guidance, recommendations and much more. Before applying, better get your LinkedIn profile updated and crisp.
8. Update your Angel List Profile- Angel.co is gaining a lot of traction among Indian startups with regular postings from prominent startups.
9. Other Portals- While I have got good ones from LinkedIn and Angel List, some good companies do post regularly in platforms like Internshala and Letsintern.

Applying Process

Big firms usually have their summer internship recruiting process concluding as early as October. Startups, on the other hand, start their recruitment in January of that year and goes on even till May. So this gives you a lot of time to prepare and apply for multiple companies.

1. Shortlist the companies- Find the suitable companies and startups in your industry of interest.
2. Company Website- You can directly apply on company portals or mail them ( few more times, if absolutely interested ). This has a really low conversion rate.
3. LinkedIn- Find contacts of HRs or Alumni and send a professional message stating your purpose. For startups, you can directly message one of the CXOs, they would redirect you to respective personnel. This has worked for me.
4. Angel List- It has a more streamlined process of applying, just at the click of a button and further correspondence is shifted to mail address. I got a good intern through this as well.
5. Personal Contacts — Alumni, relatives, neighbours, what not, if you are well-deserving they would be more than willing to guide, if not get you an interview.

What happens next?

To be frank, after applying for a number roles, do your waiting, embrace rejections and wait for those few acceptances.

The conversion rate is low given the high number of applicants, number of opportunities, your personal short-comings and also unprofessional mail (or resume ).

The last two factors can be avoided by thorough preparation. Even between interviews and applications, you can focus on mistakes in previous application to avoid mistakes in the next. Not many get it right in the first one, but do put in efforts to get it right as soon as possible.

Usually companies give tasks and assignments to prepare presentation decks, coding challenges, video or audio call based interviews of multiple rounds to filter out candidates.

This is a long process which can stretch over weeks before the final decision comes. Since you have applied to multiple firms at once, you might have to attempt tasks and interview at once.

As suggested earlier, it’s better to have stipend and other requirements in mind, but it’s just for two months, don’t be too persuasive on getting fancy perks.

Conclusion

Finally if you have made it, well, congratulations, else, improve over your shortcomings and go ahead with next one.

Importantly do not lose hope if you aren’t getting one in your profile ( or if you don’t get one at all ). You can always introspect your shortcomings and improve before you apply for the next one. Intern adds to your personal experience more than anything else, but that doesn’t guarantee a job.

On the other hand, not doing an intern, due to any reason, doesn’t entirely hamper your placement chances as long as you compensate with learning and honing your personal skills. Do have a positive mindset towards internships and I really hope you crack internships in desirable roles and companies.