You fixed your resume, edited your cover letter and nailed the interview—it’s time to start your internship! But… now what? Being the youngest and newest employee of a business is intimidating, but a little confidence, professionalism and thirst for knowledge will start you off on the right foot and help you keep lines of communication open during and after your internship.
The most effective way to make a great first impression is to dress professionally. Some businesses dress more casually, but in the beginning, the simple act of dressing up more so than one normally would goes far with an employer.
“Dress for the job you want, not for the job you have,” Megan O’Rourke, the Program Director for Experiential Education and Internships at the University of Maryland Career Center, said. “Be as professional as possible and dress up more than you think.”
After you tackle the easy task of dressing professionally, keep in mind the type of worker you should be. A conscientious employee maintains a healthy, communicative relationship with a supervisor to prove he or she is serious about his or her position at the company.
“Interns should go to their supervisor and ask for more work and have open conversations about what they want to learn and what they want to get out of the experience,” O’Rourke said, noting that an intern should ask a lot of questions and go out and get tasks rather than wait for responsibility to be handed to him or her.
“This kind of communication starts from the beginning,” O’Rourke said. “It is so important to sit down with your supervisor and create an outline of your responsibilities.”
“My supervisor would give me certain projects to do, but she would leave room for me to take initiative and ask for more work,” said Erin Glinowiecki, a junior sociology major who worked as a communications and outreach intern last semester. “If [your supervisors] are not giving you enough to do, then ask them and they probably have something else for you to do.”
One gains knowledge and industry experience from an internship, but making connections at a business is invaluable. Sometimes it’s the little things that help one form relationships with co-workers.
“You don’t always have to meet with the directors of the business,” O’Rourke said. “Sometimes, the people in entry level positions are more easy to talk to, and are great resources to break out into the field professionally.”
Entry-level employees have experience with the job hunt and can often offer advice about being a young adult in the big business world.
And according to www.about.com, a great professional way to interact and keep in touch with co-workers is to create a LinkedIn account, “the largest professional networking site available today. LinkedIn provides a way to connect with other professionals and helps you stay in contact with millions of users.”
Using this platform to network with co-workers and others in the industry can promote keeping the lines of communication over after the internship.
“Make sure you know where supervisors and mentors are after you leave so they can be a continued networking resource and recommendation,” O’Rourke said, adding that one should be speaking to his or her supervisor once every couple of months.
“I email my [former internship] supervisor once a semester to catch up and ask her what she’s up to and tell her what I’ve been doing,” Glinowiecki said. “I’ve used her as a reference [on other applications].”
Landing an internship is hard, but making it worthwhile and forming lasting connections is harder. You know what to do—now it’s up to you!