Seth does it again with this post on Internship.

Internships tend to be an American concept and not really seen in the UK. But regardless of where you are based you should be creating an internship for yourself. Of all the things that could accelerate your career, working for free with an interesting company, on some interesting stuff, is probably the most useful.

I understand most companies do not have an internship program. In fact many will not know what the hell you are talking about however, they will all understand, “I would like to come and work for free.”

I`m amazed at the resistance job seekers have towards working for free. They will spend thousands on degrees. Spend years in study but would rather work in a call centre for a pittance than work for free somewhere interesting. It appears it`s a point of principal (perhaps it`s a personality issue). So here`s what I propose: look upon it as an investment. Borrow two months salary and work for free.

As an employer I am much more interested in the four weeks you worked in a real company doing interesting things than the four years you spent at University. I was a student for a long time, as are many employers and I don`t believe that your experience was much different than mine. I had a lot of fun. I got really good at squeezing passes in exams with minimum effort. But in all honesty my education was completely irrelevant to working a real job. I take little notice of qualifications. It`s right up there beside your swimming badge but if you talk to me about your internship, i`ll be all ears. And the fact that you worked for free tells me a lot too. Your internship experience and your personality / psychometric report is the most interesting thing about you.

So go and participate in internships. If the company doesn`t have one then help them create one for you. Persuade them that you will be more help than hinderence. Don`t restrict yourself to the big organisations that run internships, cause the projects will be less interesting. Big names tends to result in small projects. Small companies are more likely to see you involved in big projects.