Internships can be great experiences that lead you to your next job. Or they can be experiences where you learn what you don’t want in a career. As a first year master’s student, I’ve had a few internships and each of them has been vastly different, teaching me what to look for and what to avoid as I enter the workforce. Regardless of your degree or career aspirations, this article will prepare you to look for green flags and red flags in potential employers. Additionally, I’ll list some questions to ask during an interview that can help you see if an internship might be the right fit for you long term.
At the end of any interview, you will be asked if you have any questions for your potential employer. Use the opportunity to get a feel for whether or not the job is the right fit. One of the most important questions I wish I would have asked before taking an internship is this: “Is there upward mobility in the organization? How hard is it to achieve upward mobility here?”
This question becomes more important as you get closer to graduating and fully entering your career. If you are early in your degree program and just want to get a feel for the day to day of your profession, the answer to this question may not need to deter you. However, if you’re a senior in college or are finishing up a master’s program or professional degree, you should aim to land an internship where a full-time job is at the end of the rainbow.
“How difficult is it to move up in this organization?”
Another important consideration before taking an internship may be whether or not they’ve had interns before. Organizations with ongoing internship programs tend to have more straightforward expectations for students. These employers may also use their internship program to scout and retain new talent, leading you to your next full-time job. However, it may be a red flag if an employer has more interns than they do staff. In my experience, this may indicate that they are understaffed and need cheap labor and hardworking student employees to fill the gaps.
“Have you had interns before?”
An increasingly crucial indicator of workplace culture is employee retention. High retention rates can be more positive in some career paths than others. On one hand, having long-time employees can be a signal that the office is stable, the pay is good, and people enjoy their job enough to not want to jump ship. However, it could also be a sign that the employees have been doing things the same way for a long time, and may be averse to new ideas or approaches. If you consider yourself someone who wants to innovate and problem solve in creative ways, these types of workplaces may not be quite the right fit.
To follow up with this question, ask if there are any young professionals in the office. The presence of young professionals may signal that the office is open to new ideas and ways of operating. The absence of young people may indicate that your employer requires a significant amount of experience in order to be hired on or that the organization is not planning to train young leaders from within. Consider it to be a green flag if the young professionals have worked in the office for a few years or if they are reaching leadership positions in the department.
From an interpersonal standpoint, having people relatively close to your age, or in a similar phase of life can be comforting in the workplace and lead you to develop tight knit workplace relationships. These co-workers may be extra sensitive to the concerns young professionals have today such as flexibility, remote work, and office culture.
“How well does your organization retain employees?”
“Are there any young professionals in the office?”
At the end of the day, internships should be symbiotic relationships. You get practice and experience doing work that will be relevant to your career, while your employer gets a set of extra hands on ongoing projects. Don’t let an employer take advantage of your skills without adequate pay, and don’t let them bulldoze your ideas because you’re young or new to the career. Ask questions, you’re there to learn!