Do Your Internship Right: Tips to Maximize Your Gains as an Intern

Internships are like dipping your toe into the working world. It is most likely your first experience in a professional setting, and will probably not be your last. Maybe you're looking to get hired full-time where you're interning or maybe you want to make sure you're learning a lot at your internship or maybe you just want to expand your network without being awkward: whatever that is, you're at the right starting point.

Here are different ways you can make the most out of your internship. 

Get To Know Your Peers. Really Get To Know Them.

You never know what could come out of a relationship with a coworker. An opportunity for you or just a genuine friendship - all of that is valuable. Go out to lunch or get coffee with them, ask for their opinion and feedback on your work, ask what their day-to-day looks like, whatever it is, try and get to know them, and establish a professional relationship.

The best time to start this is the first time you meet them. Once people are already settled in on week 2 for example, it can be harder to go up and start a conversation. So push yourself to do this on Day 1. The best way to start a conversation is by briefly introducing yourself and then asking questions.

"Hi! I'm Angela, so good to meet you! I go to Syracuse. Which school do you go to?"

Questions are amazing. Especially if you aren't particularly great at talking about yourself. Pay attention to their answers and ask follow-up questions to keep it going. Remember to be genuinely curious. Most people can smell BS from a mile away so make sure you're asking questions you'd genuinely like to hear the answer to. Aside from helping build your network, this will beat out that fear most people have of 'first' conversations. And when you approach them for more conversations in the future, it isn't as awkward!

Watch, Learn, and Ask Questions

The big thing to remember with an internship is that there is a lot to learn! Pay attention to the little things and try to soak up all that you can. If you don't understand something, ask questions.

To make sure you're doing this right, try the following:

• Pay attention and listen intently. Commit to maintaining a notepad or journal to jot down the gist of every meeting so you're forced to pay attention.
• When a question pops up in your head, review your notes to see if the answer to it was already mentioned or implied.
• If it wasn't, ask away.
• If you naturally think of many questions, jot them down so you can ask the most important ones when someone asks 'Any Questions' or email someone later to avoid taking up too much time.
• If you know you're going to be meeting someone important/knowledgeable at the company, do your research on them to ask questions on topics you know they'd know a lot about.
• If you hear your peer ask a question that made people remark, 'that's a very good question!' think of what made the question so good and how you can learn from it
• If you tend to get into your head too much when trying to think of questions to ask. Try this exercise - after listening to anything, tack on one or more of these in your head: why, what, how, I'd love to know more about [insert thing]. This can help you naturally think deeper about everything you're being told.

Have Ridiculously Good Work Ethic

The way you behave and the quality of your work need to be great, right off the bat. You can be great at conversations and have great questions to ask but if you are not able to do those things right, those other things mean very little. Let's dive deeper.

• Are you interrupting people all the time?
• Taking up too much time talking rather than listening?
• When you disagree, do you do it respectfully?
• Is your feedback constructive?
• Are your jokes targeted and inappropriate?

Some of us have habits and traits we don't think too much about that would never fly in a professional setting. We have to make sure we're checking ourselves during our internship.

When it comes to the work that is assigned to you, it has to be done way before or at the very least on time. If you're struggling with something, ask someone for help as soon as you realize you can't figure it out by yourself in time. No supervisor will appreciate you telling them you can't make a deadline on the day your deliverable is due!

If you've messed up: own up to it and ask your supervisor for feedback. This way, you can show them that you care deeply about the quality of work that you do and are willing to reflect on your mistakes and work on yourself.

Volunteer To Do More

They don't say, 'If you're comfortable, then something needs to change.' for no reason. Start thinking of how you can contribute beyond your assigned tasks as early as it makes sense. Interns usually have a lot more time on their hands than their supervisors anticipate. Many of them just end up sitting idly waiting for the next task.

This is a great moment to stand out. Actively ask about projects and work that is going on around the team to your supervisor. If anything seems like something you could help out with, volunteer your time. Ensure you've already established a great work ethic so they can genuinely consider giving you more responsibility.

Once you get the additional tasks, make sure to plan how you will be meeting the deadlines for that along with your regular tasks and stick to it! Getting their trust and additional work assigned is just half the victory. Successfully delivering on them will get you to the finish line.

Stay In Touch

After an internship, if you are not connecting on LinkedIn with personalized messages and emailing people you worked with, you're missing out.

Here's a format you can follow to make your LinkedIn message less generic and more memorable:

• Greeting
• Insert an introduction if you didn't interact with this person a lot
• Mention what you worked on + why it was great (usually includes what you learned)
• Mention something about the sender (make it work-specific)
• Mention future goals and how they align with what they do
• Say you'd like to connect

Keep it short and sweet! The more genuine the message, the better. The key here is to be memorable, you cannot do that if you make your message generic or too long! Here is an example:

Hey Shannon!

I'm Angela, I worked with your team on the expansion project as an intern. I found your process of identifying potential roadblocks and planning ahead incredibly helpful. I've realized that I'm very interested in Project Management as a career path so I am very excited to be connecting with you here!

There you have it! Using these tips can help you get way further than your peers in an internship in terms of networking skills, work experience gained, work ethic built, and more. Go out there and kill it now!