The average rate conversion rate from an intern to a full time hire is 56.1% as cited by internship and co report.
Amazed, well you should be. Do you also want to land in those 56.1% who are hired as full time workers? The solution is to have an internship. Because the numbers itself speaks that stakes are high that you will land yourself in a full time job.
As digital marketing is a blooming career more and more professionals are inclined towards it. What they do is take a course in digital marketing and then directly start looking for a job. This is where an internship comes to your rescue by acting as a catalyst to take you a step closer to your job.
If you have a dream job it’s a three step journey to reach it. First you take the course to get an inside knowledge of the subject. Then you do the internship to get your hands on practical skills. Last part is your job hunt. But what most of you do is miss the internship which is the actual cherry on the cake.
What is internship?
Internship is defined as the period of experience offered by an employer to give students an exposure to the working environment related to their field of study.
In other words it is a professional learning experience that gives an opportunity for career exploration and development.
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For an organization internship helps in building a pipeline of future workforce. Because they are in a sense a way in which you are interviewed and train to be the part of next set of new hires .
And for an individual it help in gaining priceless skills by being in a professional environment.
So, it is a win -win for both employee and employer. It sounds great right.
Also, isn’t it a better way to know how you will start your job by already doing work in the form of internship.
Difference between internship and job:
You must be wondering that if in internship also you work than how is it different from a job.
Don’t worry you are not the only one thinking in this way. Internship and job often appears somewhat similar to almost every one.
But there is a difference.
Internship is the stepping stone in getting you a job .
An internship is a temporary position which is designed in training you for job. Here you get qualified to get a job.
At the end of the project you are either paid stripend or given cerification.
Whereas, job includes doing a specific task which is a part of one’s daily occupational routine. You are permanent employee in job and have a fixed salary.
Benefits of internship:
There is a popular saying that early birds catches the worm.
You may be thinking how is it related to internship.
Well, this is a digital arena .If you are aiming for digital marketing then chances are high if you already acquire the skills.
Digital marketing helps you make use of proven strategies that attracts traffic and it is result driven domain.
So ,
For a fresher it is difficult to find a digital marketing agency that is willing to take a chance on you.
If you are aiming for this field which is very competitive and ever changing this is where internship acts as your savior. It upgrades your learning and career graph.
How internship helps you professionally and personally
You might feel reluctant to pursue internships because you are afraid as you’ll not be regarded as an asset for organization.
Well that’s genuine.
Who wants to work for free.
Although not all internships pay in cash, they do pay in other ways.
Still wondering how have a look.
Insight of every sphere of Digital Marketing:
An internship is as beneficial as you will get an insight of the workplace and also about the techniques in digital marketing. You will get to know about the various digital marketing terms like SEO, SEM, SMM, PPC and many more.
Social adaptability: It is generally believed that the most important ingredient in the formula of success is the knack of getting along with people.
Thus this is where digital marketing internship helps them in getting along with the working environment. The social skills not only help a person to be successful but to make the whole workplace a success.
Building professional network: A digital marketing internship is your entry ticket into this field. You build strong relations with other employees and clients as you will be in the actual workplace.
According to a report by LinkedIn 80% of job openings were filled through professional network.
So internship will strengthen your ties with people that will benefit you in future.
Building self confidence: Generally, fresher are considered as stressed and nervous.
Imagine if have already gone through the work culture and handled projects efficiently as a part of your internship you will feel positive.
You will feel confident and it will help you in showing your creative skills.
- Practical skills: Digital marketing is not just a single field but consists of so many sub fields .Hence, even if you have done a digital marketing course it is of no use if you are not able to implement your learning .
Also, you learn a lot during your internship as you work on live projects so there is less room for mistake when you will have a full time job.
Strengthen your resume/CV: Job hunt is a very cumbersome task for a fresher.
So, this is how internship will be a proof about the skills which you have learned as an intern. It will give the employer the idea that digital marketing is seriously your passion. Also, you will get an edge over others.
Time management and discipline: Employers want their employees to respect the value of time and be focused.
Time is money. So, as an intern only you’ll be trained to meet the deadlines .Hence it will become a part of your habbit and during your job you will not feel pressure as you have already adapted your self as you know the art of time management.
Role and responsibility of a digital marketing intern:
Now you must have realized the advantages of doing internship.
But you must be wondering what will you do as an intern.
When you will be doing internship with a digital marketing agency you will be having certain responsibilities that will widen your horizon of knowledge.
Internet and social media are the fuel for digital marketing as they are the marketing channels. So, you need to create social media strategies to help your client in marketing.
You may also be working on community management which involves developing a brand’s online community with the help of social media by designing social media campaign.
As an intern you may also be writing content for the company’s blog or website.
E-mail marketing is one of the channels of digital marketing so, an intern can also assist in it to grow the business.
Apart from it there will be certain tasks you will be doing in addition to the above mentioned tasks which you’ll get to know when you actually step into this.
Skills of a digital marketing intern:
Though as an intern you will be new to the work culture still there are certain prerequisites of a digital marketing intern.
Since, you have studied digital marketing so you must have the basic knowledge about digital marketing for example, what is SEO, SEM etc. Moreover you must be aware of the digital marketing tools. Well, definitely as an intern will still be in learning phase but having a prior knowledge will justify that you are actually serious about building career in digital marketing.
In addition every intern must have organizational skills, communicational skills . You should also be good in multi –tasking.
Off course you have to be fluent in English.
All these skills will be helpful in your personal as well professional journey.
How internship helps you in knowing your career interest
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle
Internship is the opportunity to introspect about your career goals. It helps you in deciding the roadmap of your professional journey.
During internship you will understand how your career in digital marketing would be like. So, at this point you get clarity that whether this is your cup of tea or not.
Because sometimes reality does not meet expectation .
Internship is just like a test drive for your future job options and explore . It is not always necessary that we ‘ll certainly buy the car we are driving. There is always room for change but only at this stage.
So, think of an internship as an investment for future.
When you’ve got plenty of job options then you’ll be crediting the internship .
So, make this investment now in your career and plant the seed of internship you’ll certainly get the sweetest fruits in the form of job options.