The global job market is becoming increasingly competitive as universities around the world are creating more and more international talents who are going beyond borders in search of new challenges. While the choice of university matters and is one way to distinguish yourself from other candidates, professional experiences hold just as much importance. With such a demand, the number of interns is increasing and more companies are offering internship positions compared to the past, and to accommodate this trend, universities are making internships an integral part of their programs.
At Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, we strive to give the students a great balance of academic and professional experience in order to put knowledge into practice in real life situations. Hence, we have integrated and made internships a core part of our Global BBA program that will give the students a comprehensive experience and important assets to compete against other candidates.
Why are internships so important?
First of all, an internship is the best way to discover and learn directly about an industry, company and job of your choice. It gives students the great opportunity to confirm their pre-existing ideas and to learn new details and information which will help them make choices in their future job hunt. Students also get to adopt a professional attitude and learn how to integrate the workplace.
The skills that students will be learning during their internships can thus be separated into 2 different aspects: soft skills and hard skills.
Different jobs require different skill sets and hard skills are part of them. They are specific to jobs and necessary to be successful in the respective jobs. Most of the hard skills can be acquired in class or during training at the place of employment; this is where internship experiences make the difference because you would have already acquired such skills.
As per the soft skills such as teamwork, interpersonal and communication skills, problem solving, work ethic, etc., they will be gained by carrying out everyday missions at the organization and by committing yourself to work with everyone.
Another important aspect of internship is the network. Wherever you work, you will be making valuable connections and such relationships depend mainly on your professionalism and your interpersonal skills. These relationships can be inside the company itself just like it could be with the clients or partners and anyone of them can unlock future opportunities for your career in numerous ways: recommendations and referrals, job interviews, partnerships, sales, etc.
These are only some of the main arguments on why students should embrace the opportunities to do internships and work seriously in the organization where they are interning. Success during the internship will only lead to more success in the following steps.