Some Straight Talk About Starting Your Career
There are a lot of interns in the Philippines who are absorbed by the company and get to instantly start their career the way they want to. These people are wise enough to be very clear about what they want to get out of their OJT and so they were able to find exactly what they were looking for. No one wants to put on an office attire, commute an hour to get to the office and only make sure that the coffee is made and all the files are stapled to perfection.
College students, especially those who are taking their internships have a lot to offer, and no one wants an internship that is menial or boring. As much as possible, they want to be able to use everything they learned in school and apply it to a real job—a chance to test the waters, if you must say.
So if you want to make sure that your internship is going to give you the experience you are looking for to jump start your career as early as now, here are key tips to make it happen, from finding the right jobs in the Philippines to making sure you stick to it.
First of all, determine exactly what you want to get out of your internship. Achieving a goal is easy if you have it written down or at least have it clearly figured out. It;s difficult to go to battle without a strategy or objective, and so is joining the workforce without any goal in mind. You should figure out if you are looking for jobs in which you’ll be able to utilize all your skills and which can help you later on to get started in the industry you are targeting.
Second, if you already have a goal at hand, it’s time to start looking for the right sources of OJT jobs. Your school is the first place almost everyone checks to help them with, but if you are included in the 5,000 would-be graduates, it’s difficult to find a really good internship source because of the competition. As an alternative, you can ask your relatives about people they might now who are working in the same industry as you are so you can get a head start immediately. If you still can’t find a company that you think is going to help achieve your goal, it’s start to go online. OJT Careers is an example of a great resource for job postings specifically intended for OJTs. You can easily choose your field and browse the updated list of job postings in OJT Careers every day.
Third, be ready to commit to your chosen job and go out of your comfort zone once in a while. Remember that it’s a two-way street. You have to learn how to deal with things differently and keep up the good work you’ve been doing to be able to gain the kind of experience that you want. Sure you have expectations in your OJT but you also be prepared to do your part.
Lastly, enjoy your job! Take note of the skills you develop, people you meet, and all the experience you go through, whether positive or negative, because it will be able to help you to be prepared for a great career when you finally graduate. Who knows, there might even be a job opportunity in the company you are having your OJT in just in time for you graduation, and with all the experience you already have, you will have an unfair advantage against other applicants, especially if you maintained a very good record when you were having your OJT.
With the number of graduates increasing every year, competition is getting much tighter and more intense. Having said this, the only way to get ahead of everyone else is to get started as early as possible and a good OJT experience is a surefire way to achieve it.
Tags: good ojt experience, jobs in the philippines, ojt careers