By Dr. Sophia Protopapa, Director-Career Development Office, HAEC, and Eleni Tsirigoti, Co-ordinator, Professional Development, HAU
Internships: the holy grail of working experience for students. The fundamental question we get from students nowadays is "how can I get experience on my CV".
Students feel helpless when it comes to competing against experienced professionals.
Working together with their mentor and their School's Career Office services, students should take advantage of every opportunity for good internships. Why are internships so important?
- Experience: Internships offer on the job experience and proof to any future employer that you have been doing real, field work!
- References: Even in the worst case scenario, when as an intern, you are not satisfied with the working conditions, you still get a good reference on your CV.
- Network – network – network! Internship is your No. 1 networking opportunity in the field that you have chosen to make a career.
- Learning: There is no place to learn how to apply what you have been studied, than in the work place. Internships are about learning by doing the actual work, and they allow you the benefit of the rookie, where you are allowed to make (some) mistakes, and learn from them.
- Test your career choice: By actually doing what (or close to) you have been studied, you get a real feeling of what your working life would be like. This insight will help you better understand and appreciate any career choice you make in the future.
- Career development: Most employees who offer internship programs do have a systematic human resource development approach that in most cases involves orientation, training, development, assessment, rewarding practices. Such HRD systems offer something more than a good employment opportunity: they offer a career future, plus... higher salaries compared to entry level staff who haven't been through their internship programs.
- Getting there: Searching for the right internship, filling in applications, making interviews, working with your mentor to find the suitable internship, is a huge career kick off step. You are rebooting your CV, you are organizing your time and your research, and you are working on your communication and interview skills. Through this experience you can really appreciate the effort towards starting your professional career.
- Professionalism: Through internships you test more than your career choice. You get to practice your interpersonal skills and you take a huge step outside the classroom into the business field. You test your teamwork skills, you take responsibility, you meet deadlines that have a real impact to other people's work, as well as a real financial impact. Employers seek experience that goes beyond your knowledge or technical skills, they seek professionalism. Be aware! Employers will comment on your professionalism in their references.
- Confidence: References, skills and networking are the hard core benefits of internships. However, the confidence you will get from going through an internship experience, is a powerful feeling that will help you go through any career path, no matter how challenging it might be.
Our Psychology student, Nikoleta Samara, has already started her career through the internship she earned with Libra Group for Summer 2015. See how she describes this new opportunity and how her confidence has already gone sky high!
"When I saw the email regarding the opening of the application process for an internship at the Libra Group, I had many doubts as to if I am capable or if I have the necessary qualifications in order to apply for this internship. At the end I thought that I might as well try it and take it from there. I applied, put a lot of work into completing the demanding application, and I had the chance even by taking this small first step, to learn a lot about myself both in personal and professional terms. When I got the news that I was selected for the first interview, I felt really glad and grateful to be given the opportunity to proceed in this selection process. In the interviews that followed I had the chance to discover something new about both myself and the business world every time. Finally, all the preparation and anxiety paid off when I got the call saying that I was a successful candidate and will be joining the Libra team in summer 2015.
For me, this was a self-development and improvement procedure that taught me among others that hard work, attention, honesty and an eye for detail are very important when it comes to applying and traveling through the business' world of applications and interviews. I feel grateful and honored to be given this opportunity and I strongly advise and suggest to each and every one of my classmates to apply for the Libra Internship program, because I believe that even if you don't manage to be a successful candidate you'll still learn a lot going through the selection process. To end with, I am available for anyone who would like more details regarding my experience."
The Libra internship program is a very good example of how multinational companies with established HRD systems offer interns unique employment opportunities. The Libra internship program takes in up to 100 interns every year for its Winter and Summer internship cohorts. Selected students are placed in key international locations including New York, Miami, London, Athens, Beijing, and Buenos Aires. Internships are also available outside the five core sectors from the "Diversified" sector, as well as positions in specific areas such as communications, marketing, administration, finance, IT, and human resources.
Hellenic American University helps its students and alumni identify internship opportunities in Greece and abroad, and assists them during the recruitment and selection process.
Visit our Career Development Office Massalias 22, 6th floor, to find out more.
