Making Internships Count

I just spent the last week on vacation. It was so great to get away from work for a few days and go a few places I've never been before.

But, anyway, I am back now. And I would like to talk a little bit about internships. On Experience's Homepage, there is an article titled "Milking Your Internship." The most important point the author makes is "You may feel like a student, but you are expected to act like a professional."

That is so true. The way you land jobs from internships, especially in an economic environment like the one we are currently experiencing, is to act more professional than your boss.

One of my classmates had an internship for a Member of Congress last year, and the internship coordinator didn't really put a lot of effort in to his job. So my friend, thought "oh that's just the way it is in this office, you don't have to work very hard." Well, after a couple of weeks, he realized his boss was just lazy and started working as hard as possible at his internship. Well, once summer hit, the intern coordinator got let go, and guess who was offered the job? Yep. My classmate.

You really need to show them you are willing to do work that isn't super gratifying, yet needs to be done. And you need to have a great attitude and show you are interested, not only in your job, but also the entire industry. It's what has helped my of my peers land a job, including myself.

Photo from Carleton.edu