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Now that the school year has come to a close, it’s time to start getting excited about summer – and more specifically, about your stellar summer internship! You want to make the best impression you can and do an amazing job so that maybe, just maybe, you’ll be lucky enough that this position will turn into a real job post-graduation. To stay on top of your work, just follow these easy internship hacks – you’ll be your boss’s favorite new hire in no time!
1. Make a to-do list you can’t lose
As an intern, chances are that you’ll be doing all kinds of different assignments at the same time and juggling multiple responsibilities. To make sure you never miss a deadline, create an assignment planner so that you know which tasks you’re supposed to be completing at any given moment. You can put your planner together quickly by using an easy online template (so that you have more time to actually do the assignments you’re planning out!).
2. Snap pics in meetings instead of taking notes
It can be hard to remember what your supervisor said in that meeting on your first day, and even harder to try to decipher the notes you took about it! So that you never forget an important point someone makes or miss a note he or she has written on the whiteboard, use Office Lens on your phone to take a picture instead. The app will automatically save an image of the notes and, using optical character recognition technology, it will convert the image to a searchable text you can add to a Word document or OneNote so you can easily find the information you need to move forward with your latest project. Basically, it’s the magic wand of interns everywhere.
3. Keep your coffee dates straight
You’ll be meeting so many new people and networking like crazy, so chances are that your schedule is going to be packed with coffee dates and post-work meetings. Coffee dates are also crucial to learn more about the industry! To keep all of your plans straight, use Office Online to create a calendar that will send you reminders when you’re supposed to be stopping at Starbucks with your new boss. You can even send invitations to the people you’ll be meeting with so that they know when to arrive, too. Now neither of you will be awkwardly sipping a Frap alone until the other remembers the meeting and arrives late! Win-win.
4. Make your presentations pop
It’s almost time for the weekly wrap-up meeting, and you’re supposed to present on the project that you’ve been working on for the first few weeks of your internship. What’s the best way to present the information you’ve found? PowerPoint, of course! To avoid having to save your PowerPoint presentation on a flash drive or emailing it to yourself (and having it look totally different on another machine), just use one of these online presentation templates to wow your colleagues with your fantastic presentation.
5. Keep your finances in order
Whether this internship is paid or unpaid, you’ll be dealing with all kinds of costs, from buying new work clothes, to paying the rent for your summer apartment. To keep your spending on track and to make sure you have enough left over for your next MetroCard, put together an online budget that you can access any time from your phone (in case you need to remind yourself why you shouldn’t buy that new Kate Spade bag – at least, not this month).
With these simple internship hacks, you’ll be the star intern of the office in no time. Good luck at your summer internships, collegiettes! You’ll kill it!