Empowering youth: How stipend-backed internships boost skills and employability
Demand for skilled talent is rising, pushing colleges and organisations to rethink training models. Stipend-backed internships are emerging as a powerful way to equip students with the skills, confidence, and experience needed to thrive in the corporate world.
by India Today Education Desk · India TodayAn increase in demand for skilled resources has intensified the need for upskilling and cross-skilling the workforce within organisations. As colleges and universities aim to ramp up their curriculum to match the needs of the industry and cater to the skilled demand pool, more work has to be done to adequately prepare students with the training and skills needed to succeed in a corporate job.
Ravi Tangirala, Head of MassMutual India, has shared how the role of Stipend-Backed Internships in Enhancing Employability amongst beginners.
RELOOK AT THE INTERNSHIP MODEL
To help students succeed, it is important to relook at the definition of internship and how we model it to benefit from it. The organisations serve as Gurukuls for the duration.
These freshers spend time as interns in the organisation. Many internships are focused on skill development and networking opportunities, but internships are also a great way to kickstart nuanced learning in the form of lived experiences that the work culture has to offer, like diversity, equity and inclusion, and meaningful conversations around continuous learning.
A paid internship is usually a win-win situation for both the organisation and the individual: the organisations get fresh perspectives and ideas that are key in problem-solving, and freshers get compensated for the work they do. We can make this engagement more meaningful for both the candidate and the organisation by improving the model.
An internship that offers short-term learning to long-term project-based learning helps in building ownership, innovativeness and accountability. Internships based on the capabilities, strengths and interests of the candidates can yield invaluable results.
BUILDING A YOUNG, EMPOWERED WORKFORCE
Stipend pay for the work interns do has proved to provide a great impetus for the young talent. The right remuneration for the work brings confidence and motivation to work better and contributes to the overall growth of the business.
Internships provide the right platform to screen candidates for their skills and capabilities and allow them to absorb the culture of the organisation. Upskilling talent is a low-risk talent development strategy and a highly rewarding one when it comes to retention.
Internships are the best way to engage young talent and an opportunity for managers to explore skills based on their interests and motivations.
Additionally, it is a great way to update their skills, network with coworkers, leaders and experts from the industry, and gain first-hand knowledge in technology, product and customer lifecycle management, which allows them to upgrade their skills and prove themselves as part of solutions to real-life problems they may face.
The expectations from these freshers or new generations are not just to adapt to the existing work but to experiment and come up with something new. Because they are exposed to a plethora of resources and knowledge, they may have a different view of analysing a problem or situation that most professionals might not have.
They should be encouraged to bring in new ideas, speak their mind, make mistakes and learn from the experiences of others while making invaluable contributions to their personal and professional growth.
EMPOWERED FUTURE
With an ever-evolving landscape in education, technology, and work, it is imperative to respond to the changing needs of the ecosystem. It is important to have conversations around technology, inclusivity and work culture for the interns to inculcate. The future of young individuals can be empowered by unlocking future opportunities by mutually working towards them and intelligently investing in them.