How To Go Above And Beyond As An Intern

So you got the internship. The next step is to have an amazing experience and differentiate yourself amongst all of the interns to either get that full-time offer or simply get the most (better clients, more experience, more projects, etc.) out of your internship. Here are three ways that you can go beyond basic or even good intern expectations and impress your superiors.

  1. Recognize When To Ask For More Work!
    1. While a lot of interns think asking for more work and completing as much as possible to seem productive is a good approach to an internship, it’s actually crucial to make sure that the work you are having reviewed is fully complete and quality before you pile more work on. The reason? You may want to review work and ask questions to make sure you’ve done everything correctly before asking to move on to something new.
  2. Communicate and Reach Out!
    1. Communicate about both work topics and more social topics such as mentorship. You can learn from the people you work with and network so much just by getting a cup of coffee or having a half-hour conversation. Additionally, getting your name out there and making connections is definitely a huge key to success. Many interns won’t make the effort to get to personally know people, so by making conversation and networking a priority, you can show that you care about colleagues and about your possible future at the company. These conversations can be centered around conversations about career paths or could be informal feedback for the work you’ve done!
  3. Be Organized and TAKE NOTES!
    1. Take notes whenever you have conversations with people and always have a notebook and/or pen with you. Not only will it seem very professional and Paratus (prepared) in the eyes of whoever you are around, taking good notes means that you are assured to remember important details of conversations. Employers will likely ask you or follow up on topics discussed, so having a written record of what was talked about will really help you differentiate yourself. 

There are surely many, many more ways to be a top performer at your future or current internship. However, these three ways are a great start. In fact, using these three tactics along with being enthusiastic about your responsibilities while at work is worth so much to an employer. It is probable that your employer will teach all interns technical skills that you need for the job, so it is important to take additional steps toward getting to know coworkers better and handing in quality work. You will do great!

 

By Alina Minkova
Alina Minkova Creative Blog Curator