Technology moves at a faster pace than any other industry - in fact, even universities struggle to keep up. So how can you get to grips with an industry that's always one step ahead of education? Internships have just the answer.
Internships help to bridge the gap between academics and the real world. In a recent article for Silicon.com, Gavin Megnauth, Director of Operations and Group IT at Morgan Hunt, commented, "It has been a fast-moving era for our industry and, understandably, IT academia has not been able to keep pace to deliver us graduates who can hit the ground running; and embrace real-world IT without un-learning some of the dated rules of IT that they've been taught."
To keep up with continually evolving technology, businesses are demanding a much broader skill set from IT graduates than ever before. According to Silicon.com, some of the UK's top IT chiefs have raised serious questions about whether IT graduates are leaving university with the technical competencies and business skills that employers really need.
The biggest pitfall for new graduates, according to Neil Hammond, Head of IT at British Sugar, is that they don't have enough practical skills outside of IT. "It's surprisingly hard to find graduates which have a combination of the technical skills and the right soft skills. Broadly speaking, the role of staff in our IT department is to work with the business to deliver the systems that the business requires, so, when looking for IT graduates, we are looking for technical skills, leadership skills and collaboration skills."
Some courses provide a better foundation for the real world than others - but since many employers are reluctant to hire new graduates all together, internships can offer that life-changing opportunity you need to prove yourself.
Recent IT graduate, Thom Baker, landed an internship with West Midlands Graduate Internships (WMGI) (at Air and Ground Aviation Ltd as a member of the IT support staff. He reported, "I'm very pleased with what I've achieved in a short timescale. I have learnt to use, produce, and work on new software programmes, and my organisational skills are really developing."
Fellow graduate, Ken Rigby, took an IT internship with WMGI at Codesnap, and highlighted similar development. He commented, "I'm gaining real world experience in an IT company, working on small, fast-paced development projects. I'm also working on concurrent projects and learning to manage my time across these."
The WMGI has reported an overwhelming demand for IT graduates by local businesses in Birmingham and the surrounding areas. And it seems that more and more graduates are starting to realise the importance of widening their approach beyond traditional recruitment.
"Internships are all about opportunity. It's the opportunity to learn vital, on-the-job skills. It's the chance to make important contacts in the industry. It helps counter the difficulties of recession where so many businesses simply are not recruiting. And it gives graduates the ability to stand out from the crowd in a way that the normal recruitment process does not allow. Joy Stefanicki, project manager at West Midlands Graduate Internships.
Search over 400+ Graduate Internship Jobs at www.wmgi.co.uk/internships.html