Internships are an essential part of education and has become mandatory in many courses. By involving yourself in an internship program you will be able to gain experience about working in the industry. It helps in developing skills that are necessary for succeeding in the chosen career path. Many companies give preference to students who have gained insight and professional knowledge through internship programs.
There are different types of internship programs that are available, let us discuss and examine those categories:
Different types of internship programs
If you are exploring an internship program for yourself, you should be aware of the diverse programs available in the market.
Season or month-wise Internship programs
These kinds of internships are usually available during academic breaks where you can enroll and join during summer or winter breaks. These internship programs are in demand since the duration allows for less academic pressure, and can easily get involved in other projects.
There are semester internships, quarterly, summer, fall, spring, holiday, or winter internships.
Internship program based on industry
Internship programs are also based on the industry you are interning in. Such programs bring many positions and various opportunities. The most common ones available are digital marketing internships, Finance, art internships, legal internships, publishing and tech based programs.
Paid vs unpaid internship program
Another way of classifying an internship is paid versus unpaid. While unpaid internships bring out a limited amount of work, a paid internship is a full program that involves working on projects that are mostly handled by employees.
If a company is providing unpaid internship they will have different other ways to reward, such as, compensation for travel, free meals, better networking opportunities, letter of recommendation along with certification. Although it’s not surprising that when given a choice, people mostly prefer paid internships.
A credited vs non credited internship program
Many academic courses have internships as a part of the curriculum which is mandatory and is assessed. If internship is part of the college credit, then the assessment is done by College authorities where you will be required to keep record and provide a proper demonstration about your learnings.
On contrary, non-credit internship programs are not linked to academic whose assessment will be done by the industry offering the internship program.
Onsite and online internship
Becoming a trend, online internship is now taking over the industry. With many online courses available, many companies are now providing online training programs as well. A virtual or online internship comes with flexibility and can be done from any part of the country. You might be living in New Zealand but you can complete your internship in India.
On-site, an internship is location-based and you will be required to choose the location since your physical presence will be mandatory throughout the program.
Externships
Shorter in duration than internship programs, an externship is an opportunity to briefly learn about any field. These programs usually range from a day to a few weeks.
These are also known as job shadowing which allows a law student to gather professional knowledge and have a brief inside about their field depending on which a student may be able to decide whether they are fit and skilled enough for this career path. This is a test drive after which a student can choose to go for fully programmed internships.
To sum up
There are diverse kinds of internships that are differentiated based on industry, location, paid, unpaid, and duration. Choose the program that best works for you and provides you an opportunity to achieve maximum experience and professional knowledge.