Why You Should Consider A College Internship
Nowadays, with higher education becoming so widely accessible, young people increasingly have to go above and beyond to stand out from their peers. Having a degree is no longer enough– and it has been this way for some time– to guarantee yourself a job as soon as you graduate from university. This is why so many courses are offering work experience as part of the course, in order to give students a real experience of what to expect once they graduate.
I was very fortunate to land myself a job as a digital distribution intern at a one of the leading entertainment companies in their London office. This was an incredible opportunity that I embraced and was excited to get into.
My role was very different to what internships are usually portrayed as on TV and film. From day one it was made clear that I was here to learn and that my work could really make an impact on the company. Due to there being a small workforce in this office, the atmosphere was family-like and within the day I had met and remembered everyone’s name, which was no small feat!
Honestly, I had expected to have duties such as making coffee and helping with tasks but not with too much responsibility. Luckily for me this wasn’t the case and I was given work that I would be able to work on during my whole time there– somewhat a pet project. This was great as by the end of my internship I would be able to really see how my work had progressed.
Working in a multimedia company of this size also meant that office equipment was pretty top-of-the-line, with modern workstations, equipment and perks such as a quality coffee machine. We shared a building with other companies who were under the same parent company as us, and this meant having to share certain facilities. There were, for example, shared meeting rooms, which I had noticed caused problems with scheduling in other companies. However, we had room booking software that allowed those in the same building to check meeting room availability, reserve them, and view details about on-going or upcoming meetings.
We worked under very strict deadlines, as I was part of a team responsible for releasing programmes for online use, meaning that sometimes there could be a lot of pressure. I learnt very quickly that if I didn’t know something, it was always best to ask. It was better to ask than to go ahead and make a mistake because I was too shy to ashamed to ask.
Working in a multimedia company obviously meant I was exposed to heaps of new technology. In fact, although I was only there for one year, I was able to experience an expansion and transition to a new platform, which was very much an eye opener. I was totally unaware of how much thought, effort and stress goes with these decisions at every level. I guess ignorance is bliss!
In short, I recommend taking up an internship before graduating. Finding a good employer will really open up your eyes to what employment could be like after graduation. It most definitely will help with your further studies as you get a better understanding of a real business’ operations and what is expected of you.
