Fall 2019 expos have now come and gone and most employers are now extending internship offers to ideal candidates. If you’ve been offered an internship, congratulations! Your employer values what you bring to the table so be confident. If your eyes are on the prize of making a full time job out of your internship, this blog write-up is for you.
Be an invaluable intern: Most employers value good employees but they love invaluable employees even more. Don’t be contented with just doing your job, go above and beyond. Pay attention to details, complete projects thoroughly and in a timely manner. If there are opportunities of volunteering for different roles, take the leap. Also, seek to fit-in with the company culture. Some employers have informed me in the past that one reason they didn’t extend a full time position to their interns is that although they were good interns and did their jobs well, they didn’t seek to outgrow their job description. Little things like attending company events especially when they are not required, or volunteering for other roles in the company go a long way.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions or share your unique ideas: If you have creative ideas about your work, don’t be scared to share them with your colleagues and supervisor(s). Ask for more work if you have completed your assignments and have some time on your hands. If you find yourself with unavoidable downtime, keep a positive attitude and use that as an opportunity to learn other aspects of the job that you don’t get to explore on your day to day routine. You could ask to shadow someone or observe and learn about other roles in the company. Ask for constructive feedback periodically, don’t wait until the end of your internship to get a formal review. This would prompt your supervisor to continuously assess your work and consciously take notice of the value you bring to the company.
Connect with the entire team: One mistake many interns make is that they focus solely on their manager’s interests. Although your manager may directly guide your work, it is important to bond with the entire team. Employers generally value future employees based on their fit within the larger team and company culture so make yourself known to others in the company. You could start by saying “good morning” with a smile when you get to work in the morning and “goodnight” when you leave work in the evening. If you’re like me, give high fives to everyone and share your positivity with your colleagues. This may seem trivial but it goes a long way to impress your employer in considering you for that full time position or having you back for another internship.
This concludes part one. Stay tuned to our next edition of Internship Tuesday for part 2 of “How to turn your internship into a job!”
