Doing an internship is an amazing way to demonstrate to a particular company how experienced you are with regards to different skills and how you can be of use to the company. It also improves your personality, soft skills, ambition, communication skills, leadership qualities and much more.
So how can you make the most out of your internship? Here are some ways to do so -
1. Treat your internship work with love: Internships are an opportunity to begin building your unique way of working. Each job; be it big or small must be treated with equal importance. The internship tasks must not be considered as a burden and should be completed with passion, instead of looking at them as a necessity.
You must always think of the task you are doing in its broader context. What is your company trying to do? Why are they working in such a field? What does the main objective of doing this internship lead to? The important outcome of these kinds of questions will be to realize how little one knows about the work that they do. When one tries to find answers to these questions, he or she will find out the true meaning of doing the internship and succeed in their work.
2. Visualize the work and reflect: It is a common thing for interns to alternate between a hectic college schedule, internship work and extracurricular activities, which lead to a lower quality of work that dramatically slows down the pace of learning. Before beginning to work on a particular task, visualize it. Trying to think of the steps that are to be followed, what will be the end result and how you can continuously improve as an intern.
3. Connect to people and socialize: An internship is the best possible platform for building a network of acquaintances. As an intern, you will get the chance to meet many important people in the company or you will get the chance to increase your reach to more people. Trying to make more friends while in an internship will also be of great help in the future
4. Participate in healthy discussions and share your opinions: For each meeting where you are involved, think about how to express your opinions appropriately and frame the conversation accordingly. Learn to write very specific thank you notes, in which you mention the parts of the conversation that were meaningful to you and say what you're going to do as a result. The more you show people that you meet their expectations, value for them will have a concrete impact in terms of the contribution they're making to you – the more they'll feel invested in your success.
Moreover, the art of feeling and communicating gratitude is as important as anything else you could possibly learn during your internship.
5. Build good habits: Pursuing an internship is a great way to build new habits. These habits, when followed regularly, can become an important part of the daily routine. Taking criticism in a constructive way is an important skill one should inculcate. One must also learn not to give up easily and to work diligently until the mission has been achieved. Trying to keep smartphones and other distracting electronic gadgets away while at work can also lead to self-control, which can not only help combat smartphone addiction but also ensure a better way of living ahead in the future.
6. Learn the value of financial planning: Most internships provide some sort of a stipend to the intern. On receiving this stipend, it is very imperative that the money is carefully spent and not used lavishly.
It is a natural instinct to lose control of spending when one earns for the first time. In an internship, a limited amount of money is provided to the intern. This will limit the spending capability, which in turn will be of great benefit when the intern goes on to full-time professional work.
7. Ask, Improvise, Adapt: Doing an internship doesn’t make one industry ready. There must be no fear to ask any questions in case of any doubt. As there is no age limit for learning, there must be no shyness while looking for help what you do not understand a particular task.
Once done, it must be implemented and the current working style may be improved for better efficiency. Improving habits plays a big role in the career of an intern. These skills must then be adapted in the daily life of the intern for better outputs.
Experiences gained can be tremendously valuable, providing young workers the opportunity to build their industrial as well as soft skills, to improvise their resumes and meet important people who are working in their preferred industry.
Many claim internships to be difficult adjustments, especially those who have little to no experience in professional offices. It is usually quite hard for new recruits to stand apart and make the best impression during a short span of time and that too while adapting to such a new environment. However, the right approach and making the most of one’s internship can lead to better job offers and can be a key to a more secure future.
- Sonal Bera
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Want to get published on EMN and join the community? Here is an opportunity to join the Board of Young Leaders Program by Eat My News. Click here to know more: bit.ly/boardofyoungleaders
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