A student has around two months of summer break to do an Internship. In some professional courses like engineering, medical and finance it is mandatory to do an internship. Few are serious about it but mostly just do it for a formality. Those who are serious know that the main objective of an internship is learning new skills and adding value to your professional career. During personal or technical job interviews, internship is one of the favourite topics of discussion by the interviewer. 

When choosing an internship,  we come across two major options: MNCs or small companies/startups. While most of us are fascinated towards MNCs as, the big brand will put some weight on our resume. On the other hand, an internship at a small company or a startup would be more beneficial as you will learn more, explore more and experience more.

Below are 6 benefits of pursuing Internship at small companies or startups

1. Learn new skills

Whether you are doing Internship at MNCs or at startups or small companies you will learn  new skills. While in MNCs your scope of skills is limited as you will be assigned some part of the work due to very rigid roles. On the other hand at a startup you have chances to learn more skills, as you will be assigned a large part of the work, sometimes that requires different skill sets.

2. More exposure

In addition to the main work assigned to you, many times you have to do some extra work that would be completely out of your primary area of work. It is an opportunity to explore new things and get hands-on experience. Like you have to interact with clients or to talk with vendors and suppliers. So, you will get a chance to try your hands on new things and explore new areas.

3. Learning by doing

You will get the chance to learn new things by practically doing them. At a start-up, one is exposed to challenges at every moment and the performance of every single day has an impact on the real world. The things or skills which no college or university can teach you theoretically. Because of small team size you will get more chances to experiment and learn new things or ideas in a startup.

4. Networking

In startups you get a chance to meet many more people than in MNCs where due to strict organisational hierarchy you have limited interaction with managers and peers only. Because of small team size, in startups you have chances to interact not only with your manager and peers but with people of other departments, clients, vendors and service providers. Good options of networking are beneficial for your professional as well as personal growth, especially if you want to be an entrepreneur in future.

5. Helpful in being future entrepreneur

Internship in startups helps you in learning various aspects of business like planning, development, marketing, sales, accounting, serving clients etc, networking with people and experimenting new things or ideas. All these would be a good experience and helpful in being a future entrepreneur.   

6. Chances of employment

At a start-up, you'll likely be able to do and learn a wider range of tasks. You may have a bigger impact at a start-up than at a larger company. And, if it's a relatively small start-up, you'll have a better chance of getting noticed by the hiring managers

Hope these points will help you in finding a good place for internship.