Karina Kaypaghian: How to Make the Most of Your Internship
Congratulations, you’ve got an internship! Now what?
An internship is a valuable experience for students to learn more about an industry and explore their career interests. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge this opportunity and maximize your learning experience and business skills. While being punctual, diligently completing tasks, and supporting your team are essential, building professional relationships and asking questions are of the utmost importance in order to make a memorable impression.
During the few months of your internship, you should prioritize creating genuine and broad relationships, both within your team and with other professionals in your company. Having these relationships will enable you to develop a support system that can assist you in learning invaluable skills, managing responsibilities, and fostering your personal development. Having individuals that can serve as mentors is extremely helpful in the short and long term. These relationships will make you more memorable to your team, and help you create a network of contacts to reach out to when applying for a future internship or job. You can build these relationships by reaching out to team members to ask questions about their career path or personal interests, and by offering to help wherever and whenever you can. If your internship is in a virtual format, take advantage of this, as it can enable you to engage with a variety of people in different offices or teams that you might not have been able to meet in person!
As an intern, you should take advantage of your experience by asking as many questions as possible. At this stage in your career, these questions are not frowned upon but encouraged. Asking questions about specific teams, areas of interest, and team members’ experiences indicates that you are motivated to learn as much as possible. Additionally, asking questions to clarify procedures that you are uncertain of is appreciated–as team members can help you solve these issues quicker and teach you how to approach them in the future. Asking team members questions about their time at a company or experience in the field can open new doors for you, as they may mention other areas in the company that you may be more interested in and eventually pursue. Remember to be courteous after these discussions, and to send thank you emails to show your appreciation for their time and advice!
If you have any internship or career search questions, please email careerconsultant@scu.edu.