EC Intern Alexander Young- Why Working for a Startup Should be on your Internship Radar

Register HERE for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center's Small Business & Startup Internship Fair on Tuesday, February 2nd from 4:00-6:00pm CST.

Internship Exhaustion

Do you find yourself scrolling LinkedIn and Indeed endlessly, anxiously sending out your resume in hopes of hearing back from an automated corporate email? Fear not! This gloomy existence is not the only option we students face to learn and work internships, and one particularly exciting option to keep on your mind should be the fun and engaging world of startups! Startups offer a variety of unique experiences and advantages that can help move your career forward and set you up for future success.

An Inside Lens: The Startup Difference

One of the main advantages of a startup internship is the increase opportunity for learning experiences. In a large company of say, 500 employees, you as an intern are limited in your ability to speak with leadership team members, and your exposure to critical corporate functions is inhibited by the size and nature of the business. This issue is greatly reduced in the startup world, where smaller teams and flatter hierarchical structures offer the chance to see firsthand what a CEO goes through each day, and become more familiar with the inside operations of a business. Many students don’t have perspective on these concepts and won’t gain them until several years into working for a large corporation. Be different! Heightened understanding of how a business is run can allow you to better empathize with future bosses and leadership, and equip you with the tools to start your own business as well. You can capitalize on that advantage early by interning in the startup environment.

Death of the Paper Pusher, A Startup Story

Whether through actual experience or watching The Office, we all now the dreaded office paper stereotype. Many of us have faced this situation before, doing menial tasks day in and day out, feeling no engagement and wondering what the point of it all is. Lack of meaning in work is detrimental to learning as a young worker and fosters a poor mental environment from which to approach one’s career. Fortunately, startups offer an escape to this black and white dystopia, as their small size and high work drive necessitates a higher responsibility role for interns. When tasked with this greater workload, you become not just an intern, but a team member that is relied upon for critical functions of the business. This fosters deeper connections with mentors and coworkers, and allows you to better visualize and appreciate the impact you have on both your startup and the community in which it works.

Additionally, the less structured nature of the startup allows for a more flexible and casual work life. In my time working for a tech startup last fall, I had weekly scheduling meetings to see what hours worked best for me, and there was never any mention of a dress code during my entire time with the company. Having freedom to change work hours and wear what you want to the office? Luxuries in the corporate world, commonalities in the startup one.

I’m sold! What now?

If you’re continuing to read this and saying, “This sounds like an amazing area to get into, but how do I even get connected with startups?”, you are not alone. The opportunities offered by startups are often overlooked by the average college student, as larger more established firms dominate what we see in career service offices and online postings. But research can be as easy as a Google search! Look for industries and areas that work for you and simply add startup to your criteria to begin your journey into the world of startups. Or you could join the Nashville Entrepreneur Center for our virtual Startup & Small Business Fair on Tuesday, February 2, and meet with startup leaders looking to find future interns like yourself. Choice is yours ;)

Register HERE for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center's Small Business & Startup Internship Fair on Tuesday, February 2nd from 4:00-6:00pm CST.