Internships - Make the Most of Them

Around 75% of college students are working in an internship. This means three out of your four friends have an internship.  What about the last one? Oh, he or she might already have a full time job. How can you make yourself stand out from such a massive amount of students or increase your opportunity to get a full time job through an internship?

            First of all, take the internship as seriously as possible. Your attitude decides what you can get from the internship. Some internships are low-paid or unpaid, so, some people will not pay enough attention to it or even play around.  If you’re like that, I highly recommend you leave the internships for other, more dedicated people.  An internship can provide young workers the opportunity to build skills for their resumes or meet people who are working in their preferred industry, regardless of whether its paid.  If you take the internship seriously and decide to learn from it, I believe you can earn much in the future.   See it as a long-term investment. There is a famous rule: “1.01^365 = 37.78, 0.99^365 = 0.025”, which means if we work a little more in the internship every day, we can get huge return back, and if we work a little less every day, we will lose tremendously in the future.

            Secondly, try to do everything on time. Show up on time in the morning, arrive for meetings before they begin, and complete tasks by their deadlines. Ryan, an executive in  municipal government, says “Always be on time. Summer internships are for a short, defined period of time, so give it 100%. Be willing to get to the office early.”  Being on time seems insignificant. But, if you can be strictly regimented with it, there will be no problem for you to handle multiple tasks simultaneously. Being an intern is not always about the hard or great stuff you can accomplish, but how well you can keep accomplishing the insignificant stuff that you are assigned.

            Thirdly, ask questions.  Embrace questions when you are learning. Often, your colleagues will be willing to help you solve it, so don’t be hesitant to ask. If you have a meeting with your superior, you should think of thoughtful questions in advance, which can demonstrate you have prepared for the meeting and respect his or her time.   If you have a meeting with senior colleagues, you should spend time on looking for some questions they miss.  Don’t just accept things at face value; asking a question is not only  good feedback for the company, but also an effective improvement of yourself.

            Last but not least, build up professional relationships.  We have discussed above, an internship provides you an opportunity to meet people who work in the same or similar field. The career network is invisible wealth. It not only represents your ability, but also can open your eyes. Internship usually don’t last long, so make good use of time to create your circle.

            The internship could be less meaningful, if you just do what you expect. However, it could be valuable, if you can go above and beyond. The more effort you make, the more return you can get back.

                                                                                                                     ~Jaden Jiang

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/07/6-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-internship