Internships are an important part of one’s learning process in today’s corporate world. Nothing prepares you better for a career than ‘learning on the job’ and an internship is the way to gain that knowledge and exposure. If you and your work get noticed during this time it may even lead to employment. This can be a great start to your career.
Abroad, getting an internship is much more streamlined as compared to the Indian market. Here we still resort to friends and family contacts to land a good internship in a reputed organization.
But what if your family or friendly contacts couldn’t get you a placement in your desired industry? What if the internship you got through a nepotistic medium wasn’t clear about your profile as an intern? And what if you just wanted to be selected for your credentials not your contacts?
Adding method to the madness of this Indian internship scenario are internship portals which have made the entire process simpler and more professional. One such portal is Letsintern.com which connects the students and companies on one platform. Started in 2010, Letsintern has three co-founders Rishabh Gupta (CEO, Letsintern.com), Mayank Batheja (COO, Letsintern.com) and Pranay Swarup (CMO, Letsintern.com) who quit their jobs to lead this venture.
Since 2010 the company has placed 1500 plus internships have 15000 registered users. But what made them enter this market?
“There was a clear need-gap. Interns are a very valuable asset and form major part of work-force abroad while Indian corporates and academia haven’t given enough focus and structure to it. We felt there is an opportunity and this is the right time,” says Batheja.
In a span of sixteen months the website has attracted students from top colleges like Indian Institute of Technology, St. Stephen's, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Sri Ram, St. Xavier’s, Presidency, Christ College, Birla Institute of Technology and Science.
Companies like MTV, Viacom 18, Network 18, Ernst & Young, ZEE Group, FCUK, NEWSX, Channel V, ForceIndia, Mid-Day and Times of India Group have posted Internships on the site.
As an organization they claim to understand the student psyche very well. They say, is not just to act as a bridge between companies and students but to connect the youth with a more productive future.
“Being in AIESEC (Student Organization for International Internships) we have interacted with students from 15 cities almost every day for five-six years. Secondly, our large team of interns and keep us in close proximity with the youth. Most projects and initiatives are based on their advice. Lastly, it’s our marketing acumen as co-founders and ability to relate to the students and think like one,” says Swarup. So that’s students, but why should companies come to them for interns? Why not just source interns themselves?
“Like every other HR need, intern hiring and training is a special function and requires a specialist. Lack of which is the reason for the sorry state of internships in most companies. They recruit from wrong colleges, wrong profiles and little or no seriousness given to internships,” says Batheja.
Along with the website they have a series of other products to engage corporates, students and institutions. They’ve partnered with the world's leading training house - Franklin Covey to bring together specialized corporate skill training for under-grad students under our program - Career Launch pad. But what really makes them different from other internship portals?
“It’s our team. We have around 30 dynamic 20-25 year olds in our team chosen from across cities and colleges. Add to that a network of 100 plus interns across cities working as Letsintern College Ambassadors. Then our marketing and revenue orientation and our technology is amongst the best and we create physical platforms and offer offline services,” says Gupta.
In the coming months the second version of Career Launch Pad will take place in Delhi. They have already received more than 1500 applications and are another expecting 2000.
“Letsintern has shown significant growth since it started. We plan to take it forward by investing in technology, in the brand and most importantly, invest in people,” says Swarup.
But coming back to where we started - why not just get an internship via family/contacts/friends? Why go through internship portals at all? “Well, why not find jobs through family/friends and why use naukri/monster. The universe is much larger than contacts and people have right to information and test their abilities as professionals,” concludes Gupta.
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