In the current competitive job-hunting climate, university students nowadays need to equip themselves with more than a just perfect GPA and an undergraduate degree. Enrolling in an internship program, for example, is believed to be one of the best ways to boost a student's chance of landing a desired job.

Interestingly, according to a study conducted last year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), taking an internship during college not only increases a student's chance of landing a job, it also increases their chances of keeping it.

The Intel Corporation, a leading American multinational semiconductor chip maker, is one of the companies that offer a challenging learning environment for students via its internship program. As part of a global corporation, Intel Indonesia also runs a six-month internship program for university students to experience working at Intel.

'€œWe started with four openings: one for Digital Marketing, two for Retail Marketing and one for Below The Line campaign marketing,'€ Hermawan told The Jakarta Post.

The entry requirements for the internship program are not that hard. '€œThe student must be on his/her last semester of an undergraduate or graduate program at a reputable Indonesian university with a minimum GPA of 3.0,'€ he explained. Other requirements include fluent English and a positive working attitude, such as being passionate and goal oriented.

Julian Tanoto, a student at Binus International majoring in marketing, joined Intel's internship program for six months starting August last year and was assigned to the digital marketing post.

'€œI learned to develop digital marketing ideas and projects, which included conducting a two-day media camp, developing social media quizzes as well as learning to evaluate digital marketing content during my internship,'€ Julian said.

'€œWhat I liked the most was not only the fact that I got to learn all about digital marketing, I also learned how to work more professionally and gain more confidence as well as leadership skills,'€ she added.

This view was echoed by 23-year-old Edbert Chandra, who also enrolled on the Intel internship program last year and now works for Microsoft Indonesia. Like Julian, Edbert joined the digital marketing division and found it useful in accelerating his professional skills.

'€œAt Intel, an intern gets to experience the real working environment. An intern not only gains a great deal in terms of knowledge and technical skills, they also get to hone their time management and mental skills, as well as their soft skills and people skills,'€ Edbert remarked.

Hermawan said that Intel took their internships seriously and literally. '€œNo administrative tasks are assigned [to the interns]. In contrast, an intern will be given a well-defined, allocated role in the blue print. They have to report to a manager and are treated as full-time employees with a specific role and responsibilities, targeted deliverables and rewards and recognition,'€ Hermawan explained.

'€œMore importantly, they get to experience how to work with and work for the best talent available in the global market. They will be instantly 'upgraded' to the same level and will graduate from Intel as an international talent,'€ he added.

For the interns, the responsibilities they are given are seen as the company's trust in their capabilities. '€œOne of the things I loved about being an intern there was the trust Intel gave me in carrying out a challenging task I'd never done before. For example, Intel trusted me to be a speaker at an event on behalf of the company talking about building a business,'€ Julian said.

For Edbert, the company's flexible working policy was what interested him the most. '€œThe flexible working policy enables all Intel employees to work from any place so as to have a work-life balance. This policy inspired me to delve deeper into it and I made it my research topic for my undergraduate thesis,'€ he said.

Meanwhile for Intel, the internship program is seen as a way to give back to the community, especially in transmitting the company's international working standards and climate to young, talented Indonesians. Hermawan said it was important to equip them with global experience and world-class competitive standards that they could continue to apply after graduating from their universities.

Hermawan added that there were three key elements that Intel expected the interns to learn during their internships. First is how to make an informed decision with confidence -- this is why all the interns are given roles with clear responsibilities that enable them to make decisions for the company.

'€œBeing young and still at college, we hope this experience in making decisions for a big company can be their first 'aha' moment," he said.

Second, Intel wants its interns to learn how to collaborate across borders and time zones. In today's digital world, it's important to be able to work effectively through tele-conferences, emails and phone calls without physical face-to-face communication, but still being able to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality results.

'€œThese are useful soft skills that they need to acquire,'€ Hermawan added.

Finally, the internship program is designed to teach the interns to be passionate about what they do.

'€œBy knowing how their job impacts the industry, they can be proud of their contribution,'€ he explained.

This impact was certainly felt by Julian. She said that during her internship, she was trained to work in a fast-paced working environment and that she was pushed to raise her own standards and performance every day.

She is now benefiting from this working approach. Aside from finishing her undergraduate thesis, Julian is now running her own online fashion business with a brand called "cloth-inc". The digital marketing she learned while she was an intern at Intel is coming in handy with the development of her own business.

For Edbert, it was the knowledge he gained about the information technology (IT) industry during his internship at Intel that has been the most valuable to him in landing his first job at Microsoft Indonesia. He also said that his soft skills were improving.

'€œThe internship taught me how to deal effectively with the regional office, partners and internal parties. I learned how to collaborate with and support others to generate the best outcome,'€ he said.

This article is written exclusively for online version by The Jakarta Post Digital team.

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