Easy ways to secure Internships in Nigeria (Part 2)

‘Are Internships Usually Easy?’

Not at all! In fact, it’s been noticed that it’s always a tense time for Nigerian students when its time to apply for an internship. Usually seems a bit difficult for the students as there’s little or no time to hunt for placements while doing school work.

‘What are the likely challenges you’ll face while searching for an internship?’

• Where do I apply? Everywhere! Make multiple copies of your internship letters from your school and submit to as much places as you can. Also make sure you find out if those places require an original copy of those letters.

• How do I apply? Be professional in your application, address the envelopes containing your letters properly to the human resource managers of whatever firms you’re applying to or to the appropriate persons.

• When do I apply? As soon as you can! Don’t forget there’s a lot of other students applying. You stand a better chance when you apply for internship placements earlier.

• How do I know I’ve been accepted?  Leave your contact lines or address on your internship application letters while submitting them. If possible, check back from time to time to see if your application has been accepted. It’s a semi-job hunt, so put in your best.

• Should I expect an interview? Some firms require aptitude tests or interviews before accepting student interns. Ask, find out what you could do to perform better at your aptitude tests. Have a background information of the company you’re applying to and more importantly how they are related to your field of study. What is it you think their company is quite good at and why have you chosen to gain your internship experience from them? It’s a basic test to see if you know exactly what you’re coming to do.

• Accommodation: This is usually an uphill task for persons who will have to do their internships at places away from their residential houses or schools. What do you do when you’re left with little or no option of leaving your state of residence? Depending on the kind of pay you’ll be receiving, you can either decide to rent an apartment with few persons or find a relation or friend living in the same state to squat with.

• Internships last nothing longer than a year, for a vast majority of Nigerian students, it’s six months. Check your pocket just before you start selecting places. If the pay is not enough to sort accommodation you can either put up with an extended family or a friend. Unless of course, you’re from a well-to-do family, then you’re good to go.

• Transportation cost: Also consider the nearness of your place of internship to your place of accommodation to avoid an overblown cost of living.

• What to wear; You do not necessarily have to dress expensively. A good handful of formal outfits will do. Pair them up as creatively as you can and be sure to look smart.

• Feeding cost; This is probably going to be your first time of experiencing the working-class life. Don’t be deceived, it’s not as easy as it looks, you will most certainly want to eat what every other person eats, the restaurant life yea? Lol chill! Make provisions for having food packs while leaving home every day. It is way cheaper to deal with.

Just before we round up on this, I will love to add that internships are a great time to decide what path of your career suits most. Many Nigerian courses are quite broad in nature. Your internship period is a great time to explore one field you’ve always had a particular interest in. It’s a huge time of discovery for a lot of Nigerian students.

Start early to make a list of places you’ll love to work in, don’t let any discouragement or generally believed notion stop you from reaching out to your lifetime dreams.

No time is too early to start building your dreams of interning. If you don’t take the leaps now, you would not know exactly how high you can fly.

Perhaps you found yourself in a career or course you never wished for, this is also a great time to see the part of your course of study which you could enjoy.

Speaking from experience, an open mind is usually the best approach to things you want to get familiar or adapted to. The life of a student is learning, use your internship opportunities to explore this seemingly unwanted career field, you could find the surprise of your life doing so.

Oh and that’s it. Don’t forget to make the most of what you’ve gotten. Go over it, learn more. Gather friends, it’s an internship, it’s the very first of many, so make it count. Best of luck!