Why do an internship? | International Internships

Career

An internship is an opportunity to work with an organisation in a role that you are not yet qualified for, and a chance to work out what skills you still need to work on to get there.

It also gives you the opportunity to:

Discover your interests

Figure out what you are really interested in by trying out work in a professional field

Apply your skills

Learn how to practically apply the skills you have learned in class

Develop workplace decorum

Develop workplace communications skills, such as asking for guidance - one of the biggest challenges new employees face

Gain professional experience

Earn real work experience that you can talk confidently about in a job interview

Network Professionally

Network with people working in your field, which can be very valuable when seeking jobs soon or later on

Culture

It is almost inevitable that in your career you will end up working alongside people with a different cultural background to yourself. Cross-cultural communication can be genuinely challenging, so experience working collaboratively in international organisations and learning to do things their way is incredibly valuable.

It allows you to:

Gain understanding

Understand and appreciate the system of values driving decision making in your host organisation's workplace

Make friends

Make friends in your host country and understand their culture – what is important to them and why?

Become more open-minded

Figure out that there are lots of ways to do most things. What you perceive as important may rank much lower down on someone else’s list.

Life Experience

Working online or overseas with an organisation in a different country can be a truly life-changing experience. At some point during your internship, you will most likely feel challenged and stressed but at the end of the experience you will be prouder and more confident in yourself. In addition, many job interviews include a behavioural component and your remote working or in-country experiences will give you lots to talk about and reflect on.

They will also help you:

See the world from a new perspective

Work out what is really important to you in life

Develop skills for succeeding in new and challenging situations

Learn how to have fun in a completely new environment!