Is the air around you mystically filled with the tormenting vibes of this word, Internship? If yes, buddy you are definitely an undergrad student. Bagging an internship as an undergrad is the best thing that can possibly lead to a full-time job offer. Two decades back students would scavenge over MNCs to apply for internships. However, with the rise of entrepreneurial phenomenon the crucial questions now are, “Should I join an MNC or a startup?” Well, to crack this conundrum, continue reading: Undergrad students, mystery solved: why should you intern at a startup?
Also Read: Why you should become an entrepreneur and why you should not
Exposure: Your job spectrum widens
You are still in your undergrad and arguably you aren’t sure about your career after college. Working for a startup team helps you explore new arenas. Startups when small don’t have the luxury of hiring professionals in every field. This is a blessing in disguise for the interns. Appointed as an author for blog posts, you may find yourself toiling as a marketing intern one day, taking interviews the next day or performing a survey (user research) the day after. You will end up wearing multiple hats and being versatile. You will be enforced with new skills and will learn to embrace change. The startup community being small gives you access to fellow interns from various departments. This allows you to plunge into new waters. You get a wholesome development. An MNC might pay you well but you will be a caged bird. Startups allow you to soar high up and explore the future of your job spectrum.
Immutable Challenges
Are you an adventure seeker? Well, work for a startup! It’s a roller coaster ride. The adrenaline rush you will feel when sales-reports are presented, when investment meetings with big-shot venture capitalists go on. Working for a startup is feeling the blood pumping through your veins every minute. You work under intense pressure. The pressure to create market value, to get your brand recognised. Every day is a war. Startup teaches you that survival of the fittest is not just a concept. It also teaches how any business despite all potholes and detours, can cogently rise off the ground.
Real Responsibilities and Real Work
At a budding phase for a start-up, time is valuable so is every team member. Even the interns are crucial. Everything you do in a startup, every step counts. You aren’t a tiny cog in a big corporate machine. Your work will be instrumental in the eventual success or failure of your venture. Internship at a startup has a lot of benefits. It’s here, where you overcome your fears and learn to take responsibility. Being a member of an enterprise built from scratch will help you land job post graduation because while your college mates will showbiz leadership in various college activities, you will have a real work experience in varied projects. Let alone the charismatic confidence you will gain!
Innovative Atmosphere
Startups provide you with an apt environment for innovation, large firms don’t. Creativity and innovation are the two pillars of a successful startup. As undergrad students the most valuable experience you can gain working in a startup is, working with a highly frenzied and enthusiastic team. Startups can’t survive without innovation. Brutal competition squeezes out innovation at every level. Entrepreneurs deal with day-to-day problems and try to think unusually and bring out a crazily innovative solution. Working alongside them, you naturally infuse innovating capability in yourself.
Learn how Company Works?
Working for an MNC? It gives you limited exposure to the parts you were appointed for. When you are getting trained in a crowded room full of interns it’s not possible to get one to one guidance from your senior managers. Thus exposure to all aspects of business isn’t possible. However, in a startup it’s impossible not to gain one-on-one guidance. When your community is small your interaction is efficient. Every step your startup takes is like an open book. Be it, interacting with your marketing team or website handling team, knowing how SEO of your blogs are improved, etc. Startups help you improvise and expand your knowledge in all fields.
Limitless
Working as an intern in a MNC means: having a predefined set of tasks. Well, working for a startup is quite the contrary. Everyone is so devoted to success of the venture that their zeal is contagious. Permission to speak out your ideas isn’t required rather it’s expected from you to come up with new innovative ideas and implement them. You set your own boundaries. Start-ups embrace new processes which can accelerate their venture’s growth with open arms. Another great advantage is you can see your idea being implemented and the results immediately. This boosts your confidence over your ideas.
You can shape your Work Culture
In a large MNC you step into a predefined work culture. You need to fit into the set existing system. Forget about bringing in any change. But a small startup is no workplace with set cubicles. Rather you work in garages or cramped rooms with negligible amenities where talented people come together and make work fun. Mostly there are no dress-codes, so dress comfortably! As undergrads, could you ask for anything more?
Team Spirit
Undergrads if you want an un-smudged work environment, forget MNCs! Corporate world is tainted with office politics. If you want to savour the true spirit of team work: Work for a startup! You can feel the ‘bromance’ with your colleagues and you are thick as thieves. Startup tends to help you build a very strong bond among colleagues. Instead of competing everyone works together for the common cause, success of the venture. This eradicates self-centeredness as well as competitiveness.
Experience: Starting your own venture
Startup motivates you to start your own venture. Joining a startup truly decodes for you the meaning of being your own boss. You might not receive a stipend. However the financial sacrifice gets paid off with the knowledge, motivation and experience along with the leadership and managerial skills to start your own venture.
If your heart rate increases steeply, your cheeks flush each time you think about being your own boss, startup is the ideal place for you. You get a wholesome experience in all sectors be it executing strategies, writing blogs, marketing, implementing ideas, etc. Undergrads cross your hearts, close your eyes and join a startup to equip yourselves with the refined and beneficial knowledge, experience along with skills to become successful both in corporate as well as entrepreneurial ventures.
