Thousands of students from universities and colleges seek internship - a temporary employment meant for on-job training - in various private and public concerns. These mostly young and raw-hand internees swarm the hallowed halls of multinationals, big, medium and small national firms, corporations and other organizations in their bid to lay a strong foundation underneath their professional careers.

Internships are aimed at providing the students with an opportunity to apply their educational qualifications, talent and guts in the practical field, and let them decide their specific field of interest. Many of them demonstrate their guts to pick a challenging job and succeed in developing skills within the stipulated, and obviously short, period of time.

No doubt, internship provides a student the most-sought-after opportunity to polish his abilities and also extends great benefits which ultimately take him to a position of his choice in his career. However, in many cases internships do not deliver the desired goods due to several reasons.

Before embarking on an internship, a student keeps a 'textbook concept' of business in his mind. Upon being associated with an established firm, he is exposed to the 'real concept' of business and a market scenario absolutely different from one he may have gone through during his education process.

In the beginning, he finds it very difficult to understand what is going on in national and international markets, how the company affairs are handled in difficult times, how different methods and technologies - obsolete and modern subscribed by various firms as per their requirements - work, and how the firm, he is associated with, runs the affairs in order to adjust itself in the given environment.

While moving side-by-side the tycoons, barons, business brain, experts and experienced upper-tier professionals of the firm (as well as the companies associated in any manner with the firm), the internee gradually builds in him a temperament and motivation - the prerequisite for a business professional.

The drill automatically removes shortcomings as far as the abilities and guts of the internee are concerned. The only question is what level of interest and concentration he demonstrates and how much time he devotes to the exercise.

It has been observed that a serious and willing internee usually seeks help from his 'guides', like teachers, professors, fellow students and recognized people-in-business known to him, to understand things that boggle his mind. Handling of the job, assigned to him, creates a sense of responsibility which he strives to fulfil so as to ensure that he is not held accountable for a botchup or misdeed.

The hectic business activity throughout the internship period earns him worthwhile information and knowledge, an insight and new ideas on contemporary business trends. Above all, he learns how to work efficiently under a boss.

Educational institutions - universities, colleges and institutes - impart basic theoretical education and training to the students and try to match them with those in practical field. Similarly, the organizations offering internships also bear some cost of practical training to the internees. The students invest money and efforts. Given this collective investment, it is important to ensure that the benefits are greater than the underlying cost. Otherwise, internship cannot be regarded as economically justifiable.

If we go through the whole scenario, it may transpire that many internship programmes flop and many others remain far behind the goal upon completion. It is rarely witnessed that students are able to get the benefits of their internships fully.

While the internship-offering firm plays the key role in imparting practical training to the students, it is the same company which claims the biggest share in benefits. The firm exercises its powers to accept or reject a candidate referred to it by a placement officer (PO) of an educational institution. In fact, the POs simply refer a candidate to a firm but do not track his record even if he is rejected by the firm.

A common mistake observed is a wrong job offered to a candidate or a wrong candidate for a job. It means a wrong decision by the firm results in disappointment at the end of the internship. The placement offices of all the relevant institutions should have a complete knowledge and information about the requirements of the internship-offering firms as well as potential of the candidates to be recommended. At the same time, the placement offices should be capable to sort out, handle and deal with the huge number of applications from internship seekers in order to avoid lapse of the dates and deadlines specified by the firms. Lapse of the dates is also a major flaw in the process. Due to the placement offices' failure in intimating the internees promptly about the dates, the candidates fail to avail the opportunity or reach their job place very late.

The educational institutions take it as a matter of prestige, and make sure, that the candidate referred to a company comes up to the expectations of the employer and does not switch over to any other concern on his own for a better workplace or job. For the purpose, the candidates is required to apply for one particular company and complete the internship without changing his mind.

This rule is strictly observed and deprives the candidate a possibly better opportunity during his internship period. There should be sort of flexibility in this rule keeping in view the interests of the students. Students often talk of a clear difference between 'forced labour' and 'keenly undertaken job'.

Selection of internees is another area of concern. In many cases, companies do not follow merit. There should be rules and regulations, criterion, or code of ethics to govern the companies' selection policy with regard to internship. A better deal between a company and a candidate depends on the status/personal resources of the latter in the given situation. In some cases, a candidate having strong personal connections, resources, etc., is preferred over the others having a weaker personal profile but greater potentials. To avoid this injustice, the selection process should be made transparent.

One of the factors leading to frustration among brilliant students is the recognized firms' offer of internship to the candidates having poor academic performance. When they see a student with poor academic record having been extended an internship by an esteemed organization, they feel frustrated especially if they are made to handle a job in a less reputable firm.

It may be suggested that internships be offered on the basis of the candidates' academic record for which a proper 'monitoring system' can easily be evolved. Such a system can present a clear picture of a candidate's aptitude, field of interest, performance and tendency towards education and work.

It may be noted here that normally a company spends more or less three-four per cent of its annual budget on internship programme. Why should not it ensure desired results and good return of the investment? Why are the results disappointing for many of the companies? Because less attention is paid to the internship programmes by those handling the affair within the company. The ultimate sufferer is not only the company but the internees and their educational institutions, too, feel disappointed.

Unfortunately, most of our national concerns or private firms lack a scientific approach or technique to quantify an individual's potential. Consequently, they fail to make a proper use of the potential and resort to engage the internee in the activities irrelevant to his qualifications and abilities.

In many cases, the internees are seen attending phone calls, assisting clerical staff, preparing presentations, etc. Besides wasting the internee's time and potential, such employers earn a bad name for their companies. Amount of work assigned to an internee also matters. He feels overburdened if excessive work is assigned and frustrated if given less than a normal capacity.

For students, multi-national companies are their first choice. They would opt for lesser workload; expect employer's tolerance towards their lack of skills; demand flexibility in attendance and punctuality; and seek a warm and cordial relationship with the superiors and other staff. Some indifferent ones would demonstrate a great deal of laxity.

The educational institutions should ensure that the internees are keenly observing the discipline of the companies they have been referred to and doing their work as if they are discharging their duties like regular/permanent employees. There should be some sort of regular communication between the institutions and the organizations on the internees' performance and conduct. The institutions should also monitor the internees' progress at regular intervals.

Internees are required by a regulation to submit a report of their experience after the completion of the internship. The objective is to review every aspect of the internship and determine the level of success of the internee. However, it has been observed that most of these reports remain unread and pile up in the stores of the concerned institutions.

Though internship experience in a multinational firm or an organization of high repute counts when a job application is supported by such a document, students should not base their eligibility on this component of their profile. For, all is bound to be evident in black and white when they are assigned to handle a challenging job. They must keep in mind that employers always demand expertise and real qualification, not just high profile and strong or heavy CV.

Internship programmes can succeed only when the internees are treated as the future employees of the organization and extended cooperation to a reasonable extent. A whole-hearted grooming encourages internees and benefits the organization in future. They may contribute a lot to the organization if treated well and not subjected to discrimination on the basis of their being a novice.

There are certain other problems that emerge in some specific cases. One of them is rotation. Internees would already have a short period of time to devote and they should be allowed to utilize it in a restricted field. If they are made to change departments one after the other, this would certainly affect adversely their sense and ability to pick the work. Therefore, it would be in the interest of the internee as well as the organization to let the internees concentrate on one piece of work or confine their area of training to one department.

Companies should also avoid engaging internees in activities which could cost them their classes at the educational institutions.