To celebrate the fast approaching internship season, I thought I'd kick things off with how to make the most of your internship. Having an internship is a great experience, but it's all what you make it. You can easily pass the summer by simply writing a few emails and doing busy work, but what you need to do is take advantage of every opportunity and learn as much as you can. I talked to four people (or, internship stars, as I like to call them) to share as much advice as they could on the topic of internships and today I am sharing all of their knowledge with you.
Before we get started, here is a quick overview of the talented individuals I spoke to.
Sadie Newman, senior, client engagement intern at Fahlgren Mortine
Cade Fleming, junior, account management intern at Event Marketing Strategies
Gina Marcucci, senior, media relations intern at MediaSource
Mallory Golski, senior, product content strategy intern at Airbnb
1. Ask questions and participate
"Always think about if your question is google-able first, and if it's not then ask!" -Sadie
"Attend any meeting you are invited to even if the invitation is optional. The experience is invaluable." -Gina
2. Talk to everyone
"Your coworkers are used to having interns come in and out like a revolving door. Leave a mark by arranging one-on-one's with everyone to learn their roles and how they got to the company." -Cade
"Everyone knows that interns are there to learn, so they are far more likely to take time to meet with you and mentor you then they would be to take time to meet full-time employees." -Mallory
"Take advantage of being the youngest in the room."- Mal
3. Make your voice heard
"Every company is looking for new and fresh ideas to improve and remain competitive. Interns are literally one of the most important sources of fresh and young ideas. Bring that to the table." -Cade
4. Be dependable
"Make sure you are updating your coworkers with short notes on how your project is going, so they have peace of mind and know that you're on top of the projects that you've been assigned." -Sadie
"Send end-of-day task recaps to the team. Nothing too fancy, just a skimmable daily update on the status of each project that you own. These work like bookmarks to keep you and your colleagues on the same page." -Gina
5. Enjoy the full experience
"Join in. If some of your coworkers are going out for happy hour or invite you out to lunch, GO." -Cade
"Get out of your comfort zone. Try not to spend every evening watching Netflix. You may only get to live in this city for one summer!" -Cade
And there you have it, ten glorious pieces of internship advice from four glorious people. If you have any more advice to share I would love for you to add to this conversation either in the comment section below or over on my Instagram.
THE TO DO LIST
1. Before your internship starts, make a list with all the things you want to gain from the experience. You have a better chance of meeting your expectations if you know what those expectations are.
2. Let me know your #1 internship tip, we're all learning here!
3. Don't have an internship? Just remember, that's okay. There's no rush!
