Intern, in return reap benefits

Sarvesh Agrawal

Abhipsa Mohanty is a BA English student from BJB College, Bhubaneswar. She got to know about the importance of interning through a cousin and decided to pursue one. Coming from a tier-II city, she found it difficult to find a suitable in-office internship opportunity. Also with her college going on, she couldn’t move to another city for the purpose. Luckily, virtual internships came to her aid. Being an English literature student, she started applying to various virtual internships in content writing. After a few rejections, she was finally able to secure not one, but two internships and decided to pursue both.

For the first internship, she was required to write articles on various topics like lifestyle, tech, food, health, travel, etc. The second one required her to write short stories and book reviews. With constant support and cooperation from her employers, she was always able to complete her articles ahead of deadlines. Soon, the internships got over and she was awarded with a stipend and certificate from each. Pleased with the experience, she decided to take up more internships and as a result, she passed her first year of college with three internship experiences on her resume.

Abhipsa was able to start her career as a writer when she was just a first-year student with virtual internships. She gained valuable work experience and developed new skills, besides managing her studies. Many college students like Abhipsa are opting for virtual internships to add value to their resumes and explore different career paths. 

In fact, as per a recent internship report, it was found that a higher number of students prefer virtual internships over in-office alternative. The two major reasons behind this are: Flexibility of working, which allows students pursue an internship along with their studies, and the expanded scope of opportunities.

Internships not only make resumes shine while applying for full-time jobs in future, but also help with the application process when students decide to pursue higher education. To help you understand the internship opportunities, here are five popular profiles, in which you can pursue a virtual internship.

Volunteering

In the present age, we have plenty of NGOs aiming to take up social issues and bring about a change. Creating numerous volunteering opportunities for students, these NGOs provide them with a chance to give back to the society by working for environment conservation, teaching the underprivileged, and helping the elderly. Volunteering internships can help you develop soft skills, try hands at different tasks, and most importantly, give you a sense of achievement while you give back to society.

1 Content writing

Being an important part of almost every business, content helps generate employment. This creates a plethora of opportunities for students in content writing. You will be required to research on the concerned topics and write content. Also, with billions of topics to write on, learning opportunities are abundant in content writing.

2 Social media marketing

In the last one decade, social media has seen a significant boom. People across demographics are actively using various social media platforms to communicate with the world. Scaling on the same, businesses have found an effective way of marketing called social media marketing. This creates a number of exciting opportunities for students. As a social media intern, you are expected to think of creative and feasible ideas to market a company and engage its customers on various social media handles, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

3 Graphic designing

In this era of cut-throat competition among companies, customer experience is given a priority. Since MNCs are also serving through their online portals, how these are designed becomes a very important factor. Thus graphic designers are in-demand. If you have a knack for creativity, then you can pursue an internship in graphic designing. As a graphic designer, you might get to work on different aspects of design like UI design, UX design, logo designing, and website designing.

4 Programming

Technological advancement in mobile and web technologies has once again triggered the demand for computer science and information technology experts. This provides students who have an interest and aptitude for coding with a bunch of opportunities in diverse areas, ranging from software development to web development to mobile app development.

The writer is founder & CEO of Internshala, an internship and training platform