When you are moving to a new country, you surely feel sudden pangs of excitement and nervousness. On one hand, you are looking forward to your new life, new friends, the unknown adventures and all the experiences that are a part of this package. On the other hand, you are worried about other practical matters like finding a new home, planning expenses, taking care of your insurance matters and so much more.
You know what! Take a deep breath and let us help you.
There are three advantages to doing an internship:
First, in most of the cases, it is related to your studies. So you can practically apply all your learnings.
Second, you can get extra credits for doing an internship that is very much related to your studies.
Third and the best advantage is that you don't need to worry about a work permit for doing this. Yes, you heard that right! It doesn't matter if you are a European or a non-European student, you do not need a work permit to pursue an internship. We have talked about this much details in our previous blog.
There are three ways to find an internship for yourself. We know that you all have heard about creating an impressive LinkedIn profile or the importance of networking. We will talk about this, but further in the video, we will also tell you a very unique space which you can exploit to secure an internship for yourself. In the very end, we also give you some pointers which you should consider before going for an internship. Now without any further ado let's dive right into the good stuff!
Yes! It helps! Harshil managed to secure two internship offers through this method. People have been saying, again and again, to maintain a good profile on LinkedIn. What does this good profile mean? Do you have to be a topper in your class to deserve this title of "impressive profile" or do you need to have a laundry list of certificates in your kitty to be known as a person with "great profile"!
Alright now listen to us very carefully when we say this. It doesn't matter!
LinkedIn is a professional space to showcase your professional expertise. It is not a place where recruiters come to cherry-pick the Crème de la Cream of professionals. Having a good LinkedIn profile simply means having a complete profile which can adequately showcase your professional experiences.
Imagine a simple scenario where you are an HR who wants to hire a person with good Java skills. You stumble across say 50 profiles. Now say 35 of those profiles are incomplete with no information about a person's past or present project information and zero information about their skills. Will you approach that person? Will you drop him/her an email and invite them for an interview? No!
We will be making a whole different blog on how to improve your LinkedIn profile. But here are some essential things that you should have in your LinkedIn profile:
Your full name.
A decent profile picture.
Your educational background.
A good introduction about you and the opportunities that interest you.
Skills. Not just any skills, but skills which can get you a job.
A brief explanation of your professional experience. Don't just mention the name of your company or the title of your role. Try and connect the explanation of each project with the skill section of your profile.
After making a good profile, apply to as many internship roles that you can find. Apply for everything and everywhere. Do not restrict yourself if the pay is low or the location of the office is very far. And do not get disheartened by the lack of responses. It happens to everyone. If you will apply for 20 roles, you will get 2 responses back. So keep at it and someday a recruiter will contact you.
Networking
Before telling you about that unique space that you can exploit to secure an internship, we would like to emphasise on the importance of networking because we both secured our current internships this way.
The simplest way to grow your network is to get off of your couch and go to as many events as you can. Yup, hold that thought, we know what you are thinking. Guys! How can I find these events? There are many websites or mobile apps which can help you do this. Eventbrite and Meetup are two such platforms which you can use to look for any event which can help you advance professionally. Now a tip here, look for those events which will actually help you meet individuals who can offer you an internship. Don't go to a trekking event and expect to find individuals who are ready to offer you a job!
We went to so many events in the first few months of landing here. We attended free machine learning workshops, hackathons, seminar and many such meetups. Now what happens at these places is after the main event, they serve everyone some refreshments and this is the time where you mingle with people and talk to them. Be fierce at this point and please lose your shy self behind. Approach people, first listen to their stories and then talk about yours and ask them if they can help you.
Saurabh went to a hackathon in last November. There he met a person named David who owns a start-up and was looking for Data Science interns. Saurabh approached him, spoke to him and told him about our backgrounds. David was showed a keen interest in our profiles and invited us for an interview in his office. We both cracked the interview and boom! The very next day David called us to discuss the internship pay! That was an amazing experience for both us. We are still employed with David and enjoying every bit of the learning which the internship provides.
The tip that we want to drop at this point is network, network and network!
University Incubators
This is the point where we tell you that unique space which is right at the centre of your university. The Netherlands government is investing a lot of money on innovation. Thus, every university these days have their start-up incubators.
Incubators are companies which offer budding entrepreneurs with essential start-up tools like management training and office spaces. The very first student job that Saurabh grabbed was in one such incubator.
What happens is, there are many proficient students in the university who has an orientation towards the Entrepreneurship track. The university helps them by listening to their idea, providing them initial support using which students validate their idea and then the university enrols them into their incubators. The student entrepreneurs then apply for various financial grants and if they receive these grants, they look for interns!
Saurabh is currently working 8 hours with one such start-up called Fitsurance. Before coming here, Saurabh was actively following the VU website and was looking for on-campus jobs. He came across the VU incubator and applied in Fitsurance who were then looking for iOS and Data Science interns. Saurabh had experience with developing iOS applications so when he interviewed for the role, those student entrepreneurs were quick to hire him. He is still employed with them and Fitsurance is still going strong.
Thus guys, be on a lookout, be very very proactive if you want a student job in the Netherlands. If you do this then surely you will get an internship here.
Do you remember we said that she managed to secure two internships before the current one? Here, in the form of pointers, we would like to tell you the reasons which made her decide not to go for the previous offers.
The first internship that she received was for the role of a UI designer. I was supposed to work with technologies like Angular, javascript etc. Of course, it was a good opportunity but it was not for her. This is because her current studies are in the field of Data Science. Thus, doing an internship just for the sake of it will not help you advance professionally.
The second internship was for the role of Business Analyst. Yes, this was the apt role for her but it needed her to work for 40 hours a week. Thus, it was a full-time job hiding under the skin of an internship. If you are a full-time student then do not make a mistake of choosing a full-time internship in your study period. Of course, you can go for such an offer if you are in your summer break but not during your study period. This will have repercussions and will lead you to flunk your classes.
Ensure that the internship contract is signed by all the required parties. Always keep your study coordinator in the loop so that he or she can always look out for you. We have talked more about this in our blog and video named "4 types of student jobs in the Netherlands"
And that was the post guys. We tried to cover-up as many points as possible and in as many details as possible. Let us know if we missed something, any questions that you might have or future blog requests. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.