Why Is a Summer Internship Important in MBA?

With the new batches having begun at all of the top B schools, it's not long before the buzz begins at all of the top B schools for summer placements. While we have some papers lined up to help our friends from the B School prepare better for their MBA Summer Internship Placements, let us first understand the value of MBA Summer Internships. Here are 5 reasons why MBA summer internships are important for every MBA student.

5 Reasons for the value of MBA Summer Internships

1. Best way for learners to get exposure in the middle management 

industry While MBA Summer Internships start after the first year, they provide any B School student with the first opportunity to experience middle management experience in real-world industry scenarios.

MBA Summer Internships prepare students with core knowledge and encourage them to be better prepared in the second year of the MBA for the advanced electives awaiting them.

For freshers who have never worked in the industry before, this experience becomes much more important. MBA Summer Internships provide all learners with hands-on training. This allows them to be more aware of their interests and the area in which they would like to work. Ultimately, this encourages students to make a stronger career decision when the time comes for final placements.

2. Final Placements Predictor

Since there is just a few months difference between the junior batch's summer placements and the senior batch's final placements, they serve as a strong predictor of the mood of the industry and its acceptance for the corresponding B School in the current year.

The number of pre-placement offers (popularly referred to as PPOs in the B School arena) is also a good predictor of patterns in the final placements to be predicted. Also, if the institute can obtain a reasonable number of PPOs for a class, the final placement process becomes simpler because you have so many fewer students to put that yea.

3. Industry Reviews and feedbacks

MBA Summer Internship also give the B School Placements Team an opportunity to get industry input on their aspirations in the current fiscal year, how the students from the respective B School are viewed, what their expectations are, what kind of profiles they will like among the students, and more. This input makes it possible for placement teams to ensure that students are well trained and in line with the standards of the industry. Moreover, in order to make the courses more applicable to the needs of the industry, an increasing number of institutes are setting up advisory boards for their curriculum, comprising people from companies. The input from the organization where a student completes his summer internships is also used for program upgrades and as input.

4. Stiff competition among the same tier  B Schools

The competition to maintain themselves in the job market is cutthroat with the number of new B Schools, including many new IIMs, opening each year, particularly for private B Schools whose fate for the next year depends on their current year placement figures. Placements are, after all, viewed in India as the ultimate reward for spending time, effort, and money for two years, and are therefore an important reference point for MBA applicants in admission decisions. B Schools are first seeking to get in the queue with the number of summer internship projects and the number of institutes to recruit from being more or less set for most recruiters. Summers is the chance to start their partnership with businesses in the schools and being the early bird will place them at a great advantage.

5. Growing  strategic significance of corporates

In order to avoid wasting time and effort twice, most businesses have PPOs in mind when hiring for MBA Summer Internships. They have also begun to search for a better cultural match and not just a temporary opportunity to do a short-term project. This has raised student aspirations when it comes to planning for their MBA summer internship. Student testing and training begin right from the summer internship these days so that businesses are more assured of getting the ready goods that suit the needs of the business as soon as they graduate from the respective B Schools.