Benefits of An Unpaid Internship Opportunity

1,561 Views

An unpaid internship will not get you anywhere in your career; is what something you may find everywhere on the internet. No matter where you search or what you read, all you will find are articles and reports suggesting and recommending to stay away from an unpaid internship opportunity. And, if to go by the records and stats, none of them are wrong.

Multiple surveys have shown that an unpaid internship may not lead you a job post your college education. It’s a catch-22 situation for the candidate who’s fresh out of college and looking for a job. Companies look for candidates with some sort of work experience, and unless you get hired as a permanent employee how are you suppose to have any work experience. And, most of the companies that intakes unpaid interns, fail to provide a recommendation letter; let alone experience certificate.

But, what if you were told that there is an unpaid internship opportunity that’d not only help you gain a lot of work experience, but also will boost your career prospects. Yes! Contradicting all surveys and negating all downsides of an unpaid internship, it is the volunteer abroad internship programs that makes a difference.

There are a number of volunteer internship programs abroad for high school and college students; especially from the field of medicine and healthcare. These are some highly affordable and safe volunteer abroad programs recommended for students on gap year.

These internship programs holds a lot of value and the work experience is counted extensively by many universities and reputed organizations. Also, the fact that these are international work opportunities makes it an even better prospect for a great career boost.

All the way from medical and healthcare to dental elective, physiotherapy, journalism, nursing, rural nutrition care, and more such internship programs are available for students. Most of these internship opportunities are offered in developing or underdeveloped countries; such as India, Nepal, Thailand, Peru, and so on. This adds the element of facing the challenge of adapting to the new environment; both, personally and professionally. Learning to work with limited resources will hone your skills and expose you to find solutions in crunch situations; something that will add to your interpersonal skills and situation handling capabilities.

A few other vital benefits of taking up a volunteer internship abroad are;

1. You can live and work anywhere in the world:

Once lived abroad, all by yourself, the fear of living as an expat goes away. You become work ready to station at any corner of the world. You’d already know how to counter the common barriers that may come across while living and working abroad; such as language, food, schedule, etc.

2. You are killing two birds with one stone:

Internship opportunity and that too, abroad. This is travel opportunity shouting at its peak pitch. Gaining work experience while traveling a new destination and learning a new culture, lifestyle; that is one heck of a bargain i’d say.

3. You can develop a global network:

One of the worries about taking an internship abroad is being alone in a foreign country. Relax! A volunteer internship program has got you covered with that as well. There are a number of other gap year travelers from different parts of the world joining the same internship program. This is great platform to connect and network with students from different parts of the world and understand the career and education system in their country.

4. You are taking a step to stand out from the crowd:

While the developmental rewards of interning abroad are nearly insurmountable, the ultimate goal of an internship abroad is to generally help you in obtaining a job in the future in your field of choice. When future employers see your resume slide across their desk, complete with an internship abroad, they will immediately highlight you as a unique candidate. Your international internship experience will illustrate that you are passionate, driven, and not afraid to step outside your comfort zone, all qualities that will take you far in the professional world.

As they say, every problem has a solution, and interning abroad on a volunteer program is the solution to downsides of an unpaid internship. Give your career the thrust it needs. Take volunteer internship abroad.