Alright so you have probably read countless articles about why you need to take an internship during or after college, especially how an  internship abroad will improve your chances of employment.

Well, truth is with today’s job market, an internship has become a necessity. May I be blunt and suggest that you have to make sure you are fully exploiting your internship in China placement to your benefit! 

How can you fully benefit from your internship?

Professional skills: If you are doing a marketing internship, finance internship, etc for example, you have to make sure you are soaking in the professional skills that you need. Do not come back with the same skills you had when you started, do not settle for making coffee/photocopying or running errands for your boss. Have a good look at the job roles that they propose. Try to figure out if you can obtain transferrable skills, have you improved in the way you analyze things? Are you able to solve problems? These are some of the skills companies look at before they hire you.

An awareness of your sector: you absolutely must keep up with trends in your preferred sector; gather knowledge through reading reports, subscribe to newsletters of trusted companies and organizations, attend seminars, conferences etc. A job is not going to come to you; instead you need to go get it. Having knowledge about current news in your field will help you stay current and aware of the type of professional workplace you are entering.

Determine what you are good at: companies like confident people; you can take quizzes/tests to help you figure out what you are really good at if you have a hard time pinpointing that by yourself. Ask colleagues and your supervisor to give you a truthful assessment of what they think of you.

Learn to make connections: If you are connecting with people with the sole intention or the hop that they will give you a job, then you are going about it in a wrong way. Professional connections take time to become solid; meeting a few business people at a networking event for example is just a start and will not lead to anything immediately especially if you are doing that out of desperation. Start learning the art of making successful connection by not solely relying on the so called networking event; connections can be made anywhere anytime.

Embrace technology: for millennials, this is an obvious one, this is an era that everything seems to revolve around the use of technology one way or another, you have to accept this.

The Go Abroad China internship cost can be customised to reach even those who have a limited budget, there are also ways to supplement your finances if you consider the Beijing cost of living.  

Please share with us, how are you approaching your internship?