Want to be the World’s Greatest Intern? I’m not sure who gives out those awards, but participating in a mid-internship check in might help you make the cut. The summer is just about halfway over and this is a great time to have a mid-internship check in with your supervisor if you are participating in a summer internship. Some organizations may have very formal internship programs that have an established mid-internship performance review, while others may not. If your internship program does not have a mid-internship review, it’s a great idea to initiate a meeting with your supervisor to discuss your progress so far. During your mid-internship check you you can discuss a variety of topics related to your internship such as:
- Your experience with the internship – how
things are going, status of current projects, work load, etc.
- Your experience with the organization- do you feel you have an in-depth understanding of the organization or would you like to shadow employees in different departments?
- Your progress in the first part of your internship
- Areas that you succeed and areas that you can improve on
- Goals for the remainder of your internship
By taking the time to have a mid-internship check in meeting, you will keep the lines of communication open between you and your supervisor, so you are both on the same page in regards to your internship and projects. In addition, the meeting will help you reflect on your experience and progress at the organization to help shape your work plan for the rest of the internship.
It is common for organizations to hire interns for full time positions after they graduate, because in a way the internship period serves as a 3 month long job interview. Employers can evaluate the intern’s work, professionalism, work ethic, etc. to determine if the intern would be a good fit for a full time position. By participating in a mid-internship check in you’ll get valuable feedback from your supervisor, that will help you stand out as an intern and be considered for a full time position.
That’s a good way of looking at it, that an internship is a 3 month long job interview. I wish I would have gone in for a mid-internship review at the company that I worked at. Their attitude with interns was generally that even if the performance was poor, it wasn’t worth bringing up because the intern would only be there for a short while. So I never really knew how I did. I think, like you said, that employers appreciate when an intern asks for a performance review. It shows that they want to do their best.