How To Squeeze The Most Out Of Your Internship Experience

How To Squeeze The Most Out Of Your Internship Experience image via www.adweek.com Internships are a lot of work, especially on top of school and another job or two, but once in a while, really stop and ask yourself if you are getting the most out of that internship as you can. How can you do this exactly? Let’s take a look. Get in with the in crowd: Internships usually mean that you get to work with some pretty cool people in your field or industry. Whether this is a professor who has a lot of experience or a working professional that you aspire to be, you really want to be around them as much as you can and soak in their awesomeness. Sure, you are going to be doing a lot of brunt work and you can’t always be at the cool table, but sometimes you get to snag a spot, and you don’t want to waste the moment. For my creative writing internship, all of the interns had to help put on a Living Writers Series, where authors would come to our school, read from their books or poetry, and then host a QA. We had the opportunity to go to dinner with a few of them, and I got to tag along with Chang-Rae Lee, and he actually asked me about my own writing! I was so star struck and amazed that this successful author was taking the time to ask about little old me. It was such an amazing opportunity, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to be there if it weren’t for my internship. Moments like this have to be earned through hard work, so if you prove your worth, you might just get an in with the in crowd. Do you know how valuable that is in today’s society where everything is based off of connections? Watch the people you work with and for; they might just know someone somewhere who will help land you your dream job someday if you play your cards right. Take on extra work: During your internship, you probably won’t be the only intern that is bustling around, so try and really make sure that you stand out. Take on extra work when there is an opportunity to do so, put a lot of effort into everything that you do, don’t be afraid to ask questions or get clarifications to make sure that you are doing things right, and really show that you are grateful for the opportunity that you have and you won’t put it to waste. You want to leave your internship with the company begging you to stay on as an employee, or if they don’t have the room, at least leave in a way that will make them remember you and that will result in you getting some awesome reviews and letters of rec. Bond with other interns: All of you interns are in the same boat and same position, and while it may not seem “cool” or optimal to get all buddy-buddy with people that you have to work with, you never know when the connections might come in handy, or what friendships might be born. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with all of the interns, but if you take the time to get to know them, your future might just thank you for it. Students love helping each other out, especially when it’s about scoring an awesome job, so do good now and good will come to you later. unsplash.com Be quick on your feet: A lot of internships require you to dive in and sort of learn as you go. You might get a bit of training, but after that, you are expected to get your work done and figure it out, and also ask questions if you get lost. This is really valuable for when you go and get your job in the future, because your degree will give you the knowledge to work there, but you might not have all the skills under your belt yet. You’ll have to learn as you go, be quick on your feet, and show that you can watch and learn quickly. You can talk about this during a job interview, and prove that you are the right one to hire because you learned how to pick things up quickly during your internship. These are just a few ways to really squeeze everything you can out of your internship experience. Definitely make sure to get at least one or two of them under your belt before you graduate, to boost that resume and your confidence in the field.