When searching for an internship, the traditional attitude is to find a place in a well-known large organisation within your field of interest in the hope of gaining some valuable work experience, however more often than not the experience can lack depth and relevance. Finding an internship with a smaller company may prove not only easier but also more beneficial. I’ll explain…

Searching for an internship is a painstakingly long process, where do you begin? How do you get in the front door? Contacts can so often prove to be the key. If you know no one, it’s much tougher, but not impossible. Whilst some large and popular companies like Google, Bloomberg and Bank of America run internship programmes, these are extremely competitive. Smaller offices tend to be less cut-throat and as such there’s more room to accommodate you.

Smaller offices tend to have a greater communal feel about them and therefore a lot more will be done to integrate you into the team. Colleagues will genuinely pay attention to the story about the time your cat was sick, whereas in the big corporate world nobody gives a monkeys. There are hundreds of people doing hundreds of tasks and as an intern in a big firm you’re treated as one of them, and unfortunately you’re at the bottom of the pile.

If you’re interested in Finance and get a placement in the legal department of a Financial Services firm, you’d be forgiven for finishing the term having learnt nothing about finance. Large companies are typically made up of several small teams and on a day-to-day basis there’ll be very little interaction with those outside the department. Most inter-team communication will be carried out via e-mail and if you’re not placed in the department of your first choice you become susceptible to forgetting the bigger picture. In smaller firms there is less physical space between departments and more task overlap, you’ll find yourself frequently liaising with other departments and subsequently, not only will you gain an overview of their roles but also a broader picture of the firms’ end-to-end processes.

Senior management in big firms may as well be mythical creatures, although you’ll hear of them on the intranet and quoted in journals, you’ll probably never catch sight of them in the office. On the other hand you could find yourself in the urinals next to the CEO of a small start up; perfect time to make an impression, just don’t get shy.

Smaller companies tend to be more flexible than the big dogs, while their image is still important, they have less of a reputation to guard and thus they are likely to be more lenient on working hours, the length of your contract, holidays and their dress code.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a choice between two firms make sure you carefully consider all the factors, don’t be blinded by size or reputation as the smaller company could prove to be the better option for you.

Till next time…

Tobiaking

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