Traditional Internship is Dead –The rise of Modern Internship!

Pursue Modern Internships with Mentoring and Coaching

In the United States, according to the Labor Department, there are 6.2 million Job opening and 7 Million Unemployed  Americans. What is going on here?

Think about this! The majority of your colleagues are taking multiple internships, so what makes you stand out? Its no more about the beautiful profile you have spent time and energy to create but your understanding of where to be, what to pursue and what buttons to press.

I can talk about our experience at CIP. We have received incredible CVs with experiences spanning across industries and exciting companies like Merril Lynch, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Looks interesting huh! To me, with these experiences on a CV, candidates are ripe for employment. To our dismay, these young people find it difficult to secure jobs. Most Graduates and University Students get lured into thinking that interning with Fortune 500 companies will guarantee jobs. Far from that! If you are a culprit to these thoughts, try to disassociate from such old-fashioned ways of thinking. Whether you are looking for a summer Internship or all year round temporary entry level experience, you should bear in mind that the current job market is competitive and you need more than just an experience. You need someone to guide you through it all; you need access to the secret sauce to nailing your career right, and above all, you need to figure out who you are! This I deem essential and in tandem with seeking experience. It works together, and you need then both

Are you thinking what I am thinking? With the narratives above, we are justified in concluding that something is missing in the talent-nurturing process.

If no one ever told you, I want you to know that some internships are too raw! We call them traditional Internships.

This article will briefly expose you to what you should know in understanding what to look for in an internship before spending your resources on them.

If you were to find an internship abroad on your own, you would be on your own.  Not only would you have to find the internship placement on your own, apply for it by yourself, but you’d also have to figure out how to get to your internship destination city/ country as well. If you have heard of the stories and troubles of those who have tried seeking international internships by themselves, you will agree that traveling abroad for Internship experience requires Professional consulting.

What is a Traditional Internship?

A traditional internship is an Internship Placement that only focuses on getting you job roles and experiences without positioning you to understand how to use those assets (experience) to efficiently launching your career.

If you went with a traditional internship placement company, you would not be as pressured as they would tell you which internships are available to you, apply for them for you, set up the interview, and guide you with basic travel information such as visas and accommodation. For traditional internship companies, the goal is to place candidates in internships successfully, and once that goal has been met, they often will wash their hands of you.

Traditional internships do not have opportunities for interns to discuss their goals, expectations, and the redesign of their job duties to ensure the complete experience. Interns churned out of these kinds of programs end up with skills they do not know how to use to their advantage.

So what is the “Modern Internship”, then?

So this is the cream de la cream of our advice to young people looking to use an internship as a window to launch their career. The modern internship placement program is comprehensive beyond just a combination of job roles. It answers the question “what’s next after the internship?”

These are CIP’s recommendations of what every meaningful internship placement must have to meet the demands of the tricky job market.

• 1. Young talents must be coached, groomed, and mentored during their internship tenure. They must be under the direct supervision of a senior executive who evaluates their performance and provides complete recommendations
• 2. Job tasks should be varied over the duration of the internship so that interns can gain a full understanding of the work system.
• 3. Then, interns must also be educated alongside with what it takes to design career goals and plans. Career experts can help with this process.
• 4. Interns should be taught entrepreneurial skills, which enhances their opportunities of success and liberates them from being slaves to the job market. Young graduates should be able to start their businesses; entrepreneurial lessons open their eyes to the reality of spotting opportunities as they intern.
• 5. Interns need to be in touch with Career experts who understand the industry and can provide personalized Consulting services

As the Program Coordinator of CIP puts it,

“Not only do we have coaches who can help candidates improve their resumes and interview skills prior to their internship applications, but we also assign senior staff members working alongside the candidates to mentor them”.  Lianne Cheng – Program Director

It is ideal that interns master 80% of these topics:

• 1. Mock Interview & Feedback
• 2. Creating a High-Impact Resume
• 3. Career Strengths & Interests Assessment
• 4. Branding Yourself & Online Presence
• 5. Networking & Leveraging Social Media
• 6. Resume Submission Strategies & Techniques
• 7. Applying For Jobs That Others Do not Know Exist
• 8. Interview Tactics & Preparation
• 9. Closing The Deal & Salary Negotiation
• 10. Personality Assessment and SWOT Analysis

If you join CIP’s China Internship Program, you have all of these pre-included in your package.

The mentorship includes training, performance review, and constructive feedback on the candidates’ skills.

Finally, a modern internship is not just about placing candidates in internships with the purpose of gaining a recommendation letter or another check on your resume. The Modern Internship Placement is about developing candidates for their careers, which is why at CIP we have qualified career coaches who assist our candidates establish actionable career paths. Everyone needs a career Coach to survive the job market.

Career Coaches help candidates gain a better understanding of what they want to do, learn, or develop in an internship to choose the best internship for their goals. Career Coaches can also assist interns in finding a permanent position in China after their internships.

You do not have to stress about an internship on your own or settle for a traditional internship; sign up for our modern internship today!

Want to know how CIP does it? check out this video and

 Intern Coaching Topics

Check out the Possible Coaching and Mentoring Topics organizations can inculcate into their Mentoring and Coaching Process.

Phase 1 | Session 1 :

• Introductions, explanation of career coaching objectives, discussion of needs
• Career Strengths & Interests Assessment Q&A led by Joy
• Creating a High-Impact Resume
• Branding Yourself & Online Presence
  1. Blogging/ website
  2. Creating social influence through blogging and answering questions online
  3. Best Practices of Social Media – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
• Networking & Leveraging Social Media
  1. How to connect with senior staff of International Companies
  2. Using the power of social media without sounding opportunistic
• Action Items, Determination of Session 2 Agenda
  1. How to connect with senior staff of International Companies
  2. Using the power of social media without sounding opportunistic

Phase 2 | Session 2 :

• Resume Submission Strategies & Techniques
• Applying For Jobs That Others Don’t Know Exist
• Interview Tactics & Preparation
• Closing The Deal & Salary Negotiation
• Mock Interview
• • Purpose and intention – self awareness – the big Why?
  • Mindset –  Creativity and Critical Thinking
  • Exploring options – making decisions – divergent/convergent thinking
  • Confidence and Flexibility

Final Phase | Future Support Options:

Coaching Feedback Survey, Ongoing support options, Final Email Check-In