As soon as summer holidays start, most college students start looking for internships. Some start applying as early as January and are able to get through a company only in June. Others make use of ‘contacts’ in the industry and comfortably bag a summer job, while the rest miss out and have to only hope for better luck until next summer holidays.
However, things are set for a pleasant change. Spotting a noble business opportunity here, many websites are coming up which cater to students seeking internships only. They invite posts from companies on internship opportunities and students can then select the ones suiting them best. Mostly started by students themselves, they make it a point to handhold their applicants from the stage of applying to preparing for the interview and to getting through a company finally. What’s more, it’s free for all.
Internshala.com is one such website which has earned a huge fan following within a year of its establishment.
Its founder-CEO Sarvesh Agrawal - an IIT Madras graduate says, “I hail from a small town in Rajasthan. I know how an internship can make a world’s difference to your career. The truth is, even IITians ace difficulties in getting internships. So after completing my grad, and a brief stint in the banking and insurance sector in India and UK, I decided to help students and launched Internshala in 2011.”
“Initially,” he says, “I was helped by friends. Now, companies and students across India contact us. Today, one lakh students visit the site every month and 15,000 students follow us on FB. It is all a matter of trust in the constant help and guidance we provide.” He adds that besides him, there are no full-time workers in his team. There are only interns – 15 of them.
The biggest such website in India today - Twentynineteen.com started on a different note completely. Its founder-CEO Karthikeyan Vijaykumar says, “My team members and I were running a business consulting start-up. We would work with a lot of interns and enjoyed the experience. They brought in tremendous energy and new perspectives. Then we thought why not just make this our new business model - connecting companies and students; and thankfully, two years after we began twentynineteen, it’s doing tremendously well.”
These sites keep internships regarding all industries - engineering, management, medical, NGO and social; but the most in demand, Karthikeyan says, are software, media and web-based. Also, there are paid, unpaid, summer, fall, spring, India-based and even international internships available but the trend these days is of home-based internships. “Many internships like content writing can be easily done sitting at home, and provide a good experience too,” he adds.
Students also seem to be very happy with the services of these sites. Pooja Mehrish, a third year journalism student of Kalindi College says, “I was looking for an internship in social media marketing and got one through an internship site. The best part about these sites is that various companies quiz you online. You are not just judged by your CV, but also get a chance to convince them of your capabilities.”
Another such ‘successful intern’ Roopali Bhansal- a student of Manav Rachna College of Engineering says, “I like the fact that these sites don’t judge you by your college. It works especially for people like us who come from not-so-well-known colleges. After all, good interns can come from anywhere - we just need the right opportunities and the right platforms.”