As summer begins many of you are starting your summer internship. First, congratulations on getting an internship! Internships are a great opportunity to learn more about your potential career field, expand your professional network, build your resume, and much more. While your biggest concern might be what to wear on the first day, it is important to reflect and think about what you hope to gain throughout your time as an intern. Here are 4 tips to help you make the most of your summer internship:
- Learn about the organization: Take some time to get to know as much about the company as possible. By learning about the organization in a broad context you’ll learn about the organization’s various departments, jobs within those departments, culture, and how you can contribute to the organization. In addition, by learning what you like and dislike about the organization as an intern, you’ll be able to use your newly acquired interests to focus your full-time job search in the future.
- Network with colleagues: Your internship is a great opportunity to get to
know people in the field you eventually want to work in. Try to get to know your supervisors and co-workers – both within and outside your department. A great way to get to know your colleagues is to ask them for a 15-20 minute informational interview. The goal of an informational interview is to gain valuable information and insight from professionals in your area of interest. Keep in mind informational interviews are meant for you to learn about a person’s education and career path, not to ask for a job. - Take initiative: While some internship programs are well established, others may have flexibility in the intern’s responsibilities and activities. Use the flexibility to find areas or projects that you think contribute to the organization and then meet with your supervisor to talk over your ideas. Rather than simply asking, “What else should I do?”, taking initiative to find areas that you can contribute to will show your supervisor that you’re able to look at the big picture and take initiative to make continuous improvements.
- Record your accomplishments: Keep a record of the projects and tasks that you work on with notes about what you are doing. The record can serve a variety of purposes such as helping you assess your progress over the summer and aiding you in discussions of your work with your supervisor. Furthermore, the record will be extremely helpful when you update your resume. By documenting your projects throughout the summer, rather than trying to recall them at the end of the summer, you will have detailed descriptions that will help in writing resumes and cover letters.
Feel free to contact CALS Career Services throughout the summer with questions. Enjoy your summer internship – work hard and have lots of fun!
