Landing an internship placement with a good company is no child’s play. It almost seems like one is vying for an actual job; scratch that, it is an actual job. And until Nigerian graduate and undergraduate interns start treating their internship positions as such, they might not gain much from it. However, getting an internship in the first place will be a cumbersome task if you do not specify the kind of job you want. In my case, I wanted any kind of job which is the genesis of the problem most graduates are facing.

Still, I’m not oblivious to the fact that choosing a career path is always a major problem one has to grapple with after school.

In this post, I will show you:

How I was able to get a placement
How I aced the interview questions as an intern
What I’ve gained from interning
1. Determination

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this post. I would like you to know that;

‘’Determination and Preparation is the key thing to landing a good internship placement’’

Here is my internship story:

I had applied for some internship placements at different companies at a time but I didn’t get feedbacks from them. Then I got to know an internship Organization – Sesewa via the association I joined in school. Really, you need to see how ignorant the first mail sent to this company was. No subjects or any word attached to the mail. I’m sure I got lucky; ‘don’t try this at home’.

However, this was the first email I sent to the internship based company. I was interviewed some days later by the Executive Director, which was the first time I would have a job interview. Some of the questions threw me off balance because I wasn’t prepared. I was able to scale through the first stage of the interview but I didn’t get the placement; not because I wasn’t smart enough, it was the company’s decision. Yet, this didn’t deter me from applying for more placements but it prepared me to answer interview questions correctly and also helped build my self-confidence.

I failed a couple of times but I got better as time when by. When I sent the second mail that got me an internship placement, I had done a good job on my CV and also improved a bit in the way I send emails.

The first thing that helped me land an internship placement was my well-crafted CV not the generic ones I had used in the past. That’s fickle right? No, it matters a lot. As an undergraduate or graduate with little or no job experience, a good CV containing the activities you took part in school, leadership experience garnered as well as trainings and certifications received could go a long way.

This landed me an interview with the company within few days of applying. Though it wasn’t perfect but it better that the previous ones I had used. Who knows maybe that was the reason I didn’t get interview invites?


2. Dedication

Now I must say that some simple trick helped me to ace the interview. I had researched the company I was to be interviewed at, checked out some necessary information that could help me hit the apex at the interview. This helped me to turn the table a bit when I asked some questions about the company too, though I couldn’t outsmart my boss.

Researching the company gave me more information about the company and why I should intern with them. In about 4 days I was called for an interview and finally got an internship placement with the company after so many months of looking out for one.


3. Readiness

As much as people tend to cringe when it comes to internships because of the bad experience they’ve had in the past or heard from their friends, internships are a good way to build one’s resume and also gain real work experience. Everything that you learnt in school and more will be put to good use here.

Through internships, one gets the opportunity to acquire a lot of skills if the will and readiness to learn is there. If the people you work with are very open and do not hoarding information, it helps one grow and learn very fast from them. Open your eyes and ears to learn as much as you can whilst on internship. At Insidify, everyone is interested in your growth; mentally, academically, socially and even spiritually. Yeah, don’t be surprised.

4.Networking

Make good friends with your supervisor, employees and even other interns. They will add to your professional network. If you’re able to do well at your job, it would translate to reference letters for jobs at other companies. These people would validate you and vouch for your work experience because you’ve been able to put in your best. And if you’re able to put your best in the job assigned to you and impress the company, you just might be retained. Thereby, earning and learning more.

There’s this saying here at Insidify which says: “Success comes when you give your life’s best work always”. Even as an intern, do your life’s best work because you don’t know who’s watching you. During my internship, I was able to hone my job and also learned a lot that has helped transformed my life. This got me an award as the intern of the year! That’s great news right. Yes, because I did well at my job even as an intern.

Key lessons learnt from my placement search and my internship position:

1. Know what you want: Most undergraduates or graduates don’t know what career path they want to choose. Like the mistake I made too, I simply wanted any job with any company and that doesn’t cut it. However with taking up internships either paid or unpaid, they are worth it because it helps one figure out the career that one is interested in.

2. Be prepared: There’s this quote by Benjamin Franklin that says “By failing to prepare, you’re prepared to fail’’. This just sums it up. There were times when I had to go for an interview I got to know about few hours to the interview and I never knew I could reschedule interviews. Let me categorically state here that I wasn’t fully prepared for the second stage of interview but I was still able to perform well. Preparation puts you at an advantage and overall, it just makes things easier.

In the light of internships and learning, what have you learnt from the internship positions you’ve occupied and how has it helped your career.