Making the Most of your Internship
Congratulations on landing an internship! We hope that your experience will be exciting, eye-opening, and an opportunity for career exploration on a number of fronts. Here are some overall tips to help you make the most of your internship:
Preparation—Get excited! Go in with a great frame of mind to take advantage of the interesting possibilities that await you. Be sure that you have all the logistics covered from housing, transportation to and from work, to who will supervise you. Go into your experience with a good, open attitude.
During your internship—Generally, we suggest that you keep a journal to evaluate your internship experience based on your skills, interests and values. Pay attention to the tasks you are doing. Do you like them? Why? Why not? Are they consistent with the types of things you like doing or thinking about? Think about the types of people you are working with. Are their interests similar to yours? Do you feel that there is a good fit with your colleagues? Why or why not? How does it feel to work in this environment? What makes it a great place to be, or, what is missing?
After your internship—Debrief your experiences with a family member, friend and/or career counselor. Make note of the observations you made about your experience and yourself during the internship. Also, be sure to share your experience with others by adding it into our Summer Experience Database!
Check out our Make the Most of your Internship Tip Sheet.