Haven’t interned at a startup yet? You’re missing out!
Here’s why an internship at a startup maybe the best thing you’ve never considered.
A lot of students are excited for their first internship experience. After all, it’s an opportunity to apply what they’ve learnt and to explore what it’ll be like holding a job and being a contributing member to the society after they finish their university. But unfortunately a lot of them feel disappointed after the experience citing reasons such as feeling underutilized and ignored. This often turns what should have been a wonderful first step into the workplace into a bitter experience.
Which is why more and more students are turning towards startups for their internships nowadays. And we think you should too. We’ll help you catch up with why a startup may be the best option you’ve never considered, with the help of Aditi Sinha, co-founder of Locale.ai a local intelligence solutions startup.
Before we begin to point out what makes a startup stand out as a workplace for modern interns, we have some baggage to get rid off. So let’s help you lose the misconceptions you’ve heard regarding working at startups.
🙅🏽♀️ Misconceptions
- Startups are unprofessional: One of the biggest misconceptions people have regarding startups are that startups won’t offer the same professional environment that a company does. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There’s so much of effort and work required to pull a startup out of the initial stages that if a startup is accepting interns then it would have a professional setup in place and would be focused at getting work done as much as if not more than a regular company
- Startups don’t provide a strong CV point: It is true that a big company name shines through on your CV, but that’s only good enough to get you through the door. After that it’s up to you and your work at the said company which will carry you to your dream job. So if your work at a startup is impressive, there’s no need to fret about the company name.
- Startups make you do a lot of work: This is true in part. There’s a lot more work to do in startups. A lot more responsibility to take. But there’s also a lot more freedom to do it your way and explore new ideas. A startup is a much less taxing environment with a lot more to do and learn.
👩🏽💻 What’s to Gain?
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s what you stand to gain from a startup internship.
- Startup interns tend to be handed a lot of responsibility and get a hands-on role. You will find out what it takes to get a company up and running, right from the roots.
- Want to be treated like every other employee and not like a liability? Want to take up tasks that actually affect the growth of the company you’re interning at? Startups are the place to go for you then. A startup can’t afford having more than the required amount of full time employees which means the interns are handed the same work that is expected from an employee. Granted this means they would also expect the same level of output from you. But what’s life without a challenge, eh?
- Networking opportunities at a startup are like no other. At a regular company it’d be a pretty rare sight to see the CEO or any other top level management interacting with an intern, but this is a common occurring in startups where you’ll get to meet almost all the employees and gain contacts that would help you even after you finish your internship. These contacts, if used appropriately, are worth more than the pay you’ll get for the internship!
- In a regular well-established company the people overseeing you would be just a level above you, and the people in charge of you would be pretty busy and would meet you only occasionally. This means that the person who could actually commend your work and recommend you to others has a huge gap in contact with you. Startups are usually well knit and you can expect them to recommend you if your job is good enough. Some may even go as far as to recommend and connect you with people who they feel you might be a good fit as an employee!
- As soon as you begin your intern at a company, they’ll box you into a sector that may not be something you’re given a choice over. Even if an intern knows beforehand what exact area they’re going to work in, it’s often the case that the student had a very different view about the field and hardly knew what kind of actual work it would entail. This often puts interns into areas they thought they’d love to work in, but after a few weeks realizing that maybe that particular sector is not for them. Startups tend not to constrain their interns too much, given that there’s a variety of work available and whatever they’re a hand short of, they’ll be happy if you fill in. This means you can explore and identify the workplace where you fit in. This is the perfect scenario for new interns.
- Want to have your own startup one day? Don’t know where to start? What better place to learn how to be a successful entrepreneur than the very place where people have cleared all the preliminary hurdles that stand in their way and created something that’s up and running? Startups give you an entrepreneurial insight that is invaluable if you’re ever planning on starting your own thing. In addition to the contacts, you can bounce ideas off of the people you’re working with who’ll be happy to provide you valuable insight.
Clearly the merits of working at a startup are there for all of us to see. Your exposure is often limited to the small portion that you’re working on directly in a big company whereas in an early-stage startup, it’s almost impossible not to get involved with the myriad aspects that are being simultaneously worked on. Whether it’s overhearing design debates at the next table or chatting with the head of marketing over dinner, being part of a small team means that you’ll naturally be around every part of the company, and most startups actively ensure that everyone stays in the loop.
So how do you go about getting yourself an internship at a startup?
Aditi Sinha, co-founder Locale.ai has helped jot down a five step process you should go through:
1. Figure out what kind of work you are interested in.
2. Figure out which startups to work in based on your interests.
3. Use hunter.io for obtaining contacts.
4. Reach out to the relevant people in the team.
5. Send a personalized email and cover letter stating why you are excited to work at their startup.
What will get a startup intern recruiter’s attention? Aditi says that a personalized mail, having relevant skills, done projects in the past and a general interest in learning goes a long way to catching the eye of someone looking for interns.
What kind of startups should you be looking for? It depends on what you are looking for. “If they go to Swiggy or Zomato, it would be more about learning how to work in big teams, working with scale and processes. Whereas in early stage startups it is different. You have to take responsibility and get stuff done”, says Aditi.
She goes on to say, “If you don’t know what to do and are confused, go for early stage startups!”. It’s all about learning from people worth learning from, she adds.
So you just heard it straight from a successful startup founder’s mouth. Now, do yourself a favour and contact the nearby startup that excites you and ask them if you can help! It’s that simple. They’ll be more than happy to accommodate an interested student and put you to good use. Start mailing them using the contact info provided on their websites. Use twitter to find out about their founders and ask them if they’d be willing to help you. Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid to take chances!
If you’re from India and want to work at a startup, maybe we can help! Holler at us @NovaSemitaHQ on twitter and we’ll help you to the best of our abilities.
If you are in the final year of engineering college, check out our fellowship which will land you a kickass job in top startups! 👇🏽
Happy learning!
