Making the Most of an Internship

Intern Your Way to Success

Internships offer students the opportunity to gain experience in a professional work environment, acquire experience in a specific field, and may help an individual choose a major.  Internships are typically offered in the fall, spring, and summer. The application process requires thoughtful and advanced planning. Your campus career center can help you every step of the way to conduct a targeted, effective,and professional internship search.

Why should you spend the time and effort to become an intern? Numerous benefits of an internship include:

• Allows for the exploration of various industry and career possibilities.
• Helps to identify suitable positions for future full-time employment.
• Assists in the development of relevant work experience.
• Helps to clarify your career objective.
• Theopportunity to apply the classroom knowledge to a work environment.
• The possibility of earning academic credit and/or being paid.

Achieving Internship Success

There is a great amount of work that must be completed prior to selecting and starting an internship. A student must prepare a resume, and begin to research potential industries, organizations,and positions. Based upon the research, cover letters and resumes should be sent to each organization. Answers to potential interview questions should be prepared in advance. The job search skills that you obtain will prepare you for future full-time searches.

Once you're offered the internship position, here are some important points to help you achieve internship success.

• Realize that networking during the internship begins your first day on the job. In order for people to help you in your career, they must know who you are, your career interests, are and what you are capable of doing.
• Build relationships with others in the organization. Get to know as many people as you can at all different levels within the organization. Ask what they do for the organization. Collecting this kind of information is called informational interviewing (asking people questions to get information and not to obtain a specific internship/position).
• Seek permission to attend organizational meetings andevents. Become involved in the activities of professional associations with which the organization is a member.
• Develop relationships with other interns.  They serve as future contacts, colleagues, and they arepart of your growing business network.
• Show initiative by asking your supervisor to take on additional responsibilities with a project in which you are interested.
• Be a team player. Offer to support others even if you are not directly responsible for the project on which they are working.
• Find a mentor. This could be your supervisor or someone who is well respected within the organization and from whom you can learn the most about the organization and field.
• Ask questions when you need to clarify something. Do not ask questions for the sake of asking questions and do not ask questions about everything. You are expected to make some decisions and take action on your own.
• Track your success. Keep records and files on the work that you have done. Ask permission to keep samples of your work. Keep in mind that sometimes the organization may not allow this, so it is best to ask before taking.
• Meet with the Internship Coordinator or a member of your career center staff before, during, and after your internship. Before, to prepare.  During, to seek help with issues or questions. After, to plan your follow up strategy.
• Find out about any additional opportunities before your internship concludes.
• Askindividuals you want to serve as your reference(s) before leaving the internship. Obtain accurate contact information and if possible get a letter(s) of recommendation.
• Send a thank you note to your direct supervisor and anyone else that was supportive of you during the internship.
• Continue to follow up and stay in touch long after you have left the organization.

By Philip Meade, Internship Coordinator, Center for Career Development at Adelphi University, Garden City, NY.