Published on July 28, 2021

Name: Fiza Kazim

Highs School: Mayo College Girls’ School

College: Symbiosis School For Liberal Arts

Believe it or not, internships for high school students aren’t just about fetching coffee and photocopying documents. They are extremely beneficial for networking, acquiring experience, and ultimately landing that ideal job in your field.

Getting real-world experience working for a genuine company is an important part of your undergraduate education. I have received my fair share of that during my internship at Big Red Education. From landing the internship, completing my tenure and joining back – it has been an extremely wholesome experience for me. Through this blog, I’ll share my experience as well as some advice that may be useful to you during your internship.

How Did I Land The Internship?

Being a fresher in college I was unaware of many internship opportunities. So, one day I decided to seek help online. I posted about my educational background and interests on a Facebook group called Network Capital. 

Interestingly enough, this group has a network of more than 60 thousand employers and employees searching for one another. Our founder & CEO Rishi came across my post and asked for me to get in touch with the team at the Big Red Education. 

Upon Interviewing and deliberating on my interests and skills further, we even discovered that we shared our alma mater – The Mayo College. The excitement to learn and apply my skills to ongoing projects further helped me get this internship. Thus, right at the beginning of my career, I understood the importance of networking and putting myself out there. 

Tip: Several other groups, such as Network Capital, allow you to post your interests along with a brief comment about your readiness to work. Putting yourself out there in a sea of experts can be intimidating, but we must remember that, for them, we are young and confident leaders who are go-getters and aren’t scared to grasp for prospective opportunities in their sights.

What Does The Internship Entail?

My internship at the Big Red Education is class-leading. It allows me the freedom to apply myself to everything and anything that I’m excited to learn. With no limits to the role, it makes the experience wholesome and exciting than most niche internships offered at other places. A typical day in my life would consist of researching; working with the marketing and the social media team, ideating, and most importantly meeting super cool leaders in different fields during our various workshops and programmes. With this internship, I understood the challenges and goals that a young company has to go through to capture a market. 

Tip: Internships give you the opportunity to discover and explore everything you can in a professional setting. Remember, now that you’re being treated like an adult, it’s time for you to take responsibility for yourself! Furthermore, no one will come up to you and ask you what new tasks you like to take on. So, be straightforward and speak for yourself!

Best Part Of My Day?

With all the work being online during the ongoing pandemic, the camaraderie of sharing common office space has inevitably gone for a toss. However, things are different at the Big Red Education. With fresh jokes and energized spirits, the morning briefings are undoubtedly the best part of my day. 

What Difficulties Do I Face?

I believe that one of the recurring issues I experience, after interning for more than six months, is prioritising. Work will often come at you from all directions, which can be overwhelming. As a result, I recommend keeping a tracker and prioritising your tasks so no matter how late you are, you are on time for your next deadline.

Advice For Future Interns?

• Take risks. Try something new. 

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

• Keep an open mind and positive attitude.

• Always take initiative in everything that you do.

• Make a log of anything new which you have learnt at the end of each day of internship.

• Talk to new people and make connections, be it managers, seniors or fellow interns.

To sum up my experience at the Big Red Education, it was simply wholesome. Lastly, It makes me extremely happy to see young high school students interning and learning under the supervision of our team – led by Rishi, Khushboo, and Nimish – at such an early stage in their professional lives!

Big Red Education and our Ivy Early Entrepreneur Program

In our entrepreneurial workshop – Ivy Early Entrepreneur, students go through the process of business development and leave the entrepreneur program having completed a business model canvas, competitive analysis, financial model, minimum viable product, and a pitch deck.

Students get an opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs who are alumni of reputed universities and are experts in their respective industries.

These experts serve as coaches guiding students through the processes of developing a business concept. Risk-Taking, Decision Making, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communication &

Storytelling, Design Thinking & Innovation, and Opportunity Recognition are a few of the key learning areas of our program.

On successfully completing the entrepreneur workshop, the guaranteed internship will be extended to all the students within our partner firms and with most of the mentors teaching the program. Students will be provided with a certificate of participation by Big Red Education. This certificate can be used for your college portfolio.

Ivy Early Entrepreneur

11th – 17th Jan 2022

Idea Generation | Market Research | Design Thinking | Pitching

Learn More

Published on July 26, 2021

Most students know that an internship can be a valuable boost to their resume and a great way to make professional contacts, but there are several myths around these positions. You must’ve heard all the ones listed, I’m sure: Interns just have to fetch coffee for their seniors; their time is not paid; their colleagues and supervisors treat them poorly. Instead of allowing you to keep up with such misunderstandings, I’m here to debunk these rumors as an intern myself.

1. Myth 1: You Can’t Get An Internship As A High School Student.
2. Myth 2: You Should Only Take An Internship In The Field You Want To Pursue.
3. Myth 3: You’ll Be Getting Coffee All Day Long.
4. Myth 4: You Should Intern At An Established Company
5. Myth 5: All Interns Are Either Unpaid Or Poorly Paid
6. Myth 6: Internships Always Happen During The Summer.

Myth 1: You Can’t Get An Internship As A High School Student.

Reality: Interns today are hired by their passion and willingness to work. You just have to dig and find one! I know that today, even getting an internship requires some amount of experience. Luckily, you can get that through working under the same department that you wish to work under at non-profits that are more than willing to have you on board. Once you acquire that skill, you’re as good as any other college-level intern, to apply. At the Big Red Education, I see it happening every day and hence, I couldn’t disagree with this myth more.

Myth 2: You Should Only Take An Internship In The Field You Want To Pursue.

Reality: Interning in unrelated fields just adds to your skillset and prepares you for a wider range of tasks. More often than not, sticking to this mindset wouldn’t let you discover your true potential or passion. Many a time, we come across tasks that we did not expect to have an interest in. However, on getting our hands dirty with them, we find them to be more enjoyable than any other task, hence, discovering our new interests. Moreover, if you’re a budding entrepreneur, this acquired skill range of yours would come in handier than any other when you’re starting out and you’re your own strategist and marketeer at the same time.

Myth 3: You’ll Be Getting Coffee All Day Long.

Reality: Long gone are those days! Interns today work toe to toe with full-time employees, often bagging a permanent place for themselves. In the beginning, Interns might do beginner-level tasks, but that is only when they’re needed to go through it to require essential skills for an intermediate task. As an intern at the Big Red Education, I get to partake in tasks and activities which are far from beginner level. This also encourages me to put in extra efforts to learn skills of higher levels faster, helping me participate more.

Myth 4: You Should Intern At An Established Company

Reality: Interns working at start-ups or small businesses have shown to have gained more skills and hands-on experience than those working at big companies and sticking to their niche. Having worked at a start-up as well as an established company, I can assure you that employees learn more while they’re connected to a start-up. The reason being, with a smaller team, you get to work on possibly everything in any department and have to go through a much more rigorous process which gives you a steeper learning curve. On the contrary, at bigger companies, due to a big number of employees, you only get to contribute to a very specific niche, hence hindering your overall growth.

Myth 5: All Interns Are Either Unpaid Or Poorly Paid

Reality: With increasing awareness, the trend of unpaid internships has started coming to an end around the world, with companies offering highly competitive stipends along with many other cool perks. Of course, this also involves an aspect of an essential skill, which is that of negotiating. In any profession, you’ll encounter several points where you have to come to a middle ground that is beneficial to both parties. In such cases, you put your skills to use and portray yourself as an invaluable candidate that the employee needs.

Myth 6: Internships Always Happen During The Summer.

Reality: There are year-round opportunities for internships. The “Summer Internships” offered by many big names make it seem like they’re the only set of opportunities available to the students. On the contrary, around the rest of the year, fewer students are looking for internships and succeeding more due to the lower competition rate.  

Overall, there’s no point in wasting time assuming the many obstacles you might encounter while interning. Instead, get up, find an internship, and discover the truth for yourself!

Big Red Education and our Ivy Early Entrepreneur Program

In our entrepreneurial workshop – Ivy Early Entrepreneur, students go through the process of business development and leave the entrepreneur program having completed a business model canvas, competitive analysis, financial model, minimum viable product, and a pitch deck.

Students get an opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs who are alumni of reputed universities and are experts in their respective industries.

These experts serve as coaches guiding students through the processes of developing a business concept. Risk-Taking, Decision Making, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communication &

Storytelling, Design Thinking & Innovation, and Opportunity Recognition are a few of the key learning areas of our program.

On successfully completing the entrepreneur workshop, the guaranteed internship will be extended to all the students within our partner firms and with most of the mentors teaching the program. Students will be provided with a certificate of participation by Big Red Education. This certificate can be used for your college portfolio.

Ivy Early Entrepreneur

11th – 17th Jan 2022

Idea Generation | Market Research | Design Thinking | Pitching

Learn More

Published on June 24, 2021

For high school students, finding internships can be a daunting task.. Wait, is it even possible to get an internship without any prior job experience? Yes, indeed, it is!

Several companies and organizations provide internships to high school students, even those who do not have much experience.

However, do internships help you? Are they worth the effort and energy? Let’s take a look at how internships benefit you and how you can score them as well!

Internship For High School Students & Their Benefits:

1. Internships add a lot more significance to your college application because it showcases your work ethic and determination to get tasks done.

2. Paid internships are also a great way for students to earn along with studying. NGOs hire student interns and volunteers as well.

3. Heard of “Remote internships” yet? Remote internships help you build essential personality traits such as self-discipline and self-motivation. Online internships for high school students are offered by a variety of companies to help students develop planning, execution, and organizational skills.

4. High school internships give you a brief introduction and peeks into what your career might look like in the future.

5. In case you are not sure about your career choice, you can explore different career paths through internships.

6. Interning will also give you an insight into the lifestyle of your employers and how your future might look working in the same field.

7. It helps you learn several essential skills like time management, communication skills and how to work in a team.

8. Internships are a more productive way to utilise your time, therefore they are best suited for summer breaks and term breaks.

In short, internships are incredibly beneficial, not just for your college application but for your growth as well.

The main question is how to get those internships. Here is a short guide to doing so,

1. Do your research- The most crucial step is to do your research, figure out where your interests lie, find companies that work towards a similar goal or in a similar field. Students can ask their teachers for help as well.

2. Update/Build your resume- Having a resume as a high school student might sound odd, but you must have an overview before applying for internships. However, if you cannot find anything to put in the resume, do not send a blank pdf with just your name and school. Make sure the resume or application reflects your personality.

3. Mail the companies- Often, companies do not have internship application forms on their website. This is why you must email them. If they have internship forms on their website, you can apply through that. However, that is not always the case. In such cases, you can send them an email. The email must include your name, education, a brief introduction (like your interest, hobbies, etc.), your resume, the position you want to apply for, or the field you want to work in (for example, graphic designing, content creation, marketing, etc.) Apart from this, there are several other sites and apps which help you come in contact with the companies for internships, like Intershala, Glassdoor, etc.

Overall, it might be troublesome to find internships or companies that accept high school students as interns. However, it is achievable. These three steps are just the umbrella steps for the entire application process.

Just remember not to take too much pressure or you will burn yourself out!