For me, coming out of school was mysterious and scary, I felt completely like going into the blue. I could not think of anything that I would like to study, and I could not imagine the field that I would want to work in. I was always amazed by students, who had proper plans and I even felt ashamed of not knowing where I want to head in my life. I had always had lots of interests, hobbies, and ambitions, but nothing that I was confident enough about to plan my future with it.
Eventually, I decided on some studies, to get a degree. I changed the subject a few times and I thought I will figure out along the way what I will do with it.
What I realized is that lots of students do it in this way. I finally found a subject that I was genuinely interested in. During my studies then, we got taught many topics and subject fields that I enjoyed a lot. But hardly ever has somebody told me how to start a career with all that we learned, establish myself in the job market, get an internship or a job.
Finding the first internship seemed like a mission impossible when I didn’t know how to do it and what is important in that process. It was so frustrating.
When I got to Finland, I was extremely lucky by finding support from a career coach from Nyyti. He did a great job in helping me to figure out what I am good at, and he greatly supported me in finding my confidence in my skills. And then again, I was lucky that finding an internship happened by itself. I had a professor whom I appreciate, and we connected well and talked about lots of topics related to his subject. He asked me if I would like to do an internship in an organization that he knows well. Getting into this internship showed me how important the topic of networking is.
I figured out for myself it is good to be involved, to get to know people who are into a specific field, and to be genuinely interested in that, which is key. I read an incredibly good book with the name “What color is your parachute?”.
One of the most essential lessons was that going for personal connections is much more effective in job hunting than to go looking for job vacancies.
But why exactly? Companies post ads when they are desperate about finding someone for a position. Plus, if you go for job vacancies, you will have lots of competition. It is much easier with the help of bridge people, like friends and family members or people you know, like your professor or your sports club community. You could also just go through the yellow pages and call up companies or organizations, knocking on the door of companies or asking your LinkedIn community. Besides that, chances are much higher to be employed in small organizations or companies. The final tip would be to send a thank you note after you got invited for an interview.
To sum up, my key lesson is: Networking is the most essential topic about how to find an internship or a job.
An inspiring quote from the book I read is: “He or she who gets hired is not necessarily: “The one who can do that job best; But the one who knows the most about how to get hired.” —Richard Lathrop (1919–2001). Some people instinctively know how to do it, for others coaching, counseling and advice are very helpful.
It’s really nice seeing the personal experience of a person due to his personal interaction with professor and other experts in the field has brought him new opportunity to get an internship in an organization utilizing his skills and subject himself for further improvement in the field matching his relevant education and skills set. I do appreciate his ways of making connections with people belonging to different fields of innovation and technology possessing experience and expertise.