What a summer! After a hectic spring you landed some form of an internship and you’re more than halfway through. You are heading back to school in a few weeks but you still have more time to get the most out of your internship experience. But how will you spend the rest of your time?
And, I thought this would be a good time to think about how are you going to spend the rest of your time in your internship? Now, what are you going to do to make the most of the experience and to make the best of what you’ve been given. I’m going to walk through some advice on how to make the most of the rest of your internship experience.
How to Make The Most of The Rest of Your Summer Experience
Build a Walking Deck – if you haven’t built a walking deck yet, I would encourage you to build one. This is a presentation that’s relatively short, but that covers the details of who you are, a brief summary of your project or responsibilities, and the progress you’ve made. That way, when you’re meeting people informally or to network, you have something that you can quickly show them about who you are and what you do. You can also ask them for feedback and get their guidance. I’ve found this is a great conversation starter, and also makes you memorable which helps build relationships. For example, when I was able to show the walking deck to someone who I met via a happy hour, they were able to connect me with another alum from my MBA program who I didn’t know that worked at my company.
Take Advantage of Your E-Mail Address – One other thing you should do before you leave is to take advantage of the company email address by meeting everyone that you wish to meet. While it is probably going to be virtual, that’s better than nothing. If you begin to engage with others now, that will help you build further relationships even after you leave. And while you still could do that when you got back to campus, it’s just a little bit harder. Also, for everyone you do get to meet, make sure that you say farewell to them before you leave. Even if it’s just a quick not thanking them and asking to stay in touch, people will appreciate it, and it will be a great way to further your relationship.
Find Any Internal Training and Take Them – Many companies have internal training and other learning and development programs that even as an intern you can get access to. While you’re there, take advantage of these if they are offered as they are great learning opportunities to build skills and experiences that can be valuable to your own growth. During my summer, I was able to take a handful of presentation and storytelling classes that were immensely valuable, and helped me during my presentations during my second year.
Revisit Your Goals and Adjust as Needed – During the beginning of your summer you set some goals for yourself about your summer internship – now is a great time to revisit them. Start by marking your progress, and figuring out what you can do to make sure that you achieve them by the end of the summer. For some of you, your goal was to get the offer, and I think that’s a fine goal, but for others, you may have some other goals as well. In the off chance you didn’t set them, now is a great time to start. Finally, it’s important to remember you and your goals don’t live in a vacuum! Enlist the help of your manager and your team to help you in achieving them.
Position a Fall Project – Internships are short experiences, which while valuable, don’t always tell us if we want to continue doing a particular job or function. So why not test it further? To do this, find a way to see if you can search for an opportunity to pick up another internship or project for the fall or in your second year. You might be able to stay on, or at the very minimum, take on a project or two when you are back at school. This could be valuable in helping you continue to gain the right experiences and skills that you need, whether it’s to help you land a job at that company, or just to help you build skills toward your next job. Even if it doesn’t lead to a full-time offer, if you end up getting something and performing, it’s also a chance to strengthen relationships with people in your network, which could lead to other opportunities.
If you are in an internship where there is an opportunity to receive a full-time offer at the end of it, here are a few extra things you will want to consider
- Feedback and Check In – If you haven’t gotten formal feedback on your performance, make sure to ask for it. Find out how you are doing, and what you need to do to improve. These are great chances to learn how you are progressing, and what you need to do with the remainder of time you have left
- Stakeholder Engagement – Generally, offers require at least a few people to sign off on. So make sure you A) know who those people are, and B) have a good relationship with them. When the people who make those decisions know who you are, see the work you put in, and understand your skills, it makes it a lot easier for them to say yes to bringing you on board full-time. If you haven’t done this, it’s not too late to start. Make sure to go out and find the people who have credibility or clout in the process, and start engaging in building relationships with them.
- Work on Your Weaknesses – If you were given an area of improvement, work on it, and show that you are progressing Make sure that you have a very specific plan for how you’re going to go about improving upon it, and that your direct manager is aware about not only what the plan is, but how you’re going to go about doing it and the progress you’re making towards it. That way, if it comes up at the end of the summer of, Oh, did he or she take the feedback? The answer was yes. And not only did they make a plan, but they actually actioned against it.
- Build a business case slide – This is an iteration off of the walking deck, but I would also consider making a slide that you can share with your manager that highlights the work you’ve done, the value you’ve added and maybe even a few quotes from your team members. If you are doing a great job, this will make it even easier for your manager to say yes to the full-time offer.
With a few weeks left, there’s still time to make the most of your internship experience, so make sure to give it all you got!
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