A decade ago I graduated with a double degree in Marketing and Management, and without a single clue about the world. That was the global economic crisis. The Lehman Brothers just collapsed. Remember that gloomy time? How did I survive this far you asked? Well, it was a close shave, but internship saved my career.
Here are three things that I learnt from my internship:
It’s a wake up call.
You may be a top student at college or university, but trust me, you know nothing about corporate world. Nothing. Throughout our life, we probably never really know what are PR, PO, invoice, proforma invoice, ex-factory, FOB, retirement fund, labor union, why do we we have so many audits, why is the boss’ mood is affected by the Moody’s rating, alongside with a myriad of other random stuff, and yet our working life depends on them. Nobody taught us that in school. Not cool. It is really not “what do you know”, but “do you know how?”.
Speaking of waking up. As a student, when you wake up late (not to mention the hangover) you probably shrug and slog to grab a breakfast instead of going to your class. It’s the most important meal of the day versus the last place you want to be. At work, chronic lateness or AWOL, could result in a termination. Meaning you will find yourself waking up the following week without money to get breakfast. On the bright side, you don’t need to watch anymore reality show, because you are living in it. Good morning.
It’s a learning bootcamp.
Let’s see if you have learnt anything so far: Whatever your degree title is, no matter how intelligent you are, when you start working for the first time, the only title you are entitled is ‘Knower of Nothing’.
The earlier you accept that bitter fact, the better it is for you. If life is a book, graduation means flipping a paper, and you will find an empty paper behind it. Then you get a job and you repeat what you have been doing in the past twenty years or so: you fill up that paper. Being an intern put you in a place to learn everything you want to learn about business in general. Use that wisely, because you do not have that options frequently. The more you know, the more likely you know “how”, and the more valuable you are in the company.
Studying stops after you graduated, but who says learning stop? It’s not all fun though. If you slack, you will be booted.
It’s a foot-in-the-door.
Sometime you need to prove something. Everything can look nice on a paper, but whether you can work out the delivery, that is a different question. Internship is a good opportunity to do answer exactly that.
Your pay probably will not be comparable with the full timer, which will not get you your dream car in three months. Remember, you are not interning to be rich. I have heard of cases where you don’t even get paid. So as long as your pay can cover your rent, food (hopefully beer), and transportation, you should be complacent about it. If you see it as slavery, your internship is going to be hell; but if you take it as a “trial period”. It’s a win-win. If you don’t like the place, ditch it, nobody is going to force you to work there for the rest of your life. Your sunk cost is low.
When I graduated, I couldn’t get a job in Marketing directly. Nobody even want to recruit me for a full-time position as anything else. This is the part where I am somewhat thankful for my internship. Even with the internship, I didn’t land in my dream Marketing job, but over time, when you acquire enough know-how and prove your worth, you would probably reach your career destination. It’s a hard push, but without that foot on the door, I won’t even be working inside.
Here are three things that I learnt from my internship:
It’s a wake up call.
You may be a top student at college or university, but trust me, you know nothing about corporate world. Nothing. Throughout our life, we probably never really know what are PR, PO, invoice, proforma invoice, ex-factory, FOB, retirement fund, labor union, why do we we have so many audits, why is the boss’ mood is affected by the Moody’s rating, alongside with a myriad of other random stuff, and yet our working life depends on them. Nobody taught us that in school. Not cool. It is really not “what do you know”, but “do you know how?”.
Speaking of waking up. As a student, when you wake up late (not to mention the hangover) you probably shrug and slog to grab a breakfast instead of going to your class. It’s the most important meal of the day versus the last place you want to be. At work, chronic lateness or AWOL, could result in a termination. Meaning you will find yourself waking up the following week without money to get breakfast. On the bright side, you don’t need to watch anymore reality show, because you are living in it. Good morning.
It’s a learning bootcamp.
Let’s see if you have learnt anything so far: Whatever your degree title is, no matter how intelligent you are, when you start working for the first time, the only title you are entitled is ‘Knower of Nothing’.
The earlier you accept that bitter fact, the better it is for you. If life is a book, graduation means flipping a paper, and you will find an empty paper behind it. Then you get a job and you repeat what you have been doing in the past twenty years or so: you fill up that paper. Being an intern put you in a place to learn everything you want to learn about business in general. Use that wisely, because you do not have that options frequently. The more you know, the more likely you know “how”, and the more valuable you are in the company.
Studying stops after you graduated, but who says learning stop? It’s not all fun though. If you slack, you will be booted.
It’s a foot-in-the-door.
Sometime you need to prove something. Everything can look nice on a paper, but whether you can work out the delivery, that is a different question. Internship is a good opportunity to do answer exactly that.
Your pay probably will not be comparable with the full timer, which will not get you your dream car in three months. Remember, you are not interning to be rich. I have heard of cases where you don’t even get paid. So as long as your pay can cover your rent, food (hopefully beer), and transportation, you should be complacent about it. If you see it as slavery, your internship is going to be hell; but if you take it as a “trial period”. It’s a win-win. If you don’t like the place, ditch it, nobody is going to force you to work there for the rest of your life. Your sunk cost is low.
When I graduated, I couldn’t get a job in Marketing directly. Nobody even want to recruit me for a full-time position as anything else. This is the part where I am somewhat thankful for my internship. Even with the internship, I didn’t land in my dream Marketing job, but over time, when you acquire enough know-how and prove your worth, you would probably reach your career destination. It’s a hard push, but without that foot on the door, I won’t even be working inside.
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