How to crush your summer internship (and land a return offer)
Summer is approaching, which means a lot of you guys in college are starting summer internships. You may feel excited, or a little anxious, as the work environment is different from the day-to-day of college life. I personally remember the nerves that I felt going into what seemed like the unknown. And the college juniors are also thinking in the back of their heads about how to secure that ✨return offer✨ So here are a few tips to have a good summer internship experience (FYI: I am a random person on the internet, not expert advice):
1. You deserve to take up space
Imposter syndrome is so real. You go from being surrounded by people your age or younger, and suddenly you are the youngest person in your team. Everyone else looks like they have it together (but they don’t, everyone is winging it).
The good thing about being an intern is that no one expects you to know anything. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to your manager, meetings, or anyone you meet (there’s no such thing as a stupid question). Internships are meant to be learning experiences. And as an intern, your opinions and viewpoints are valuable. Other experienced folks are learning just as much from you as you are from them.
2. Build relationships
The saying “it’s who you know, not necessarily what you know” is so true. I hear this phrase get tossed around when people talk about networking, but it also applies to the workplace. At the company, there is a lot of time to get to know work peers as well as other fellow interns. Message people on your team to get coffee IRL or on video chat. It’s helpful to do this with cross-functional stakeholders as well.
Depending on the size of the company you’re at, there also could be an intern cohort with you. A lot of these cohorts have specific programming and events just for interns. It’s a great bonding experience to have with others who are going through the same thing as you are. And you can also share tips you learn from each other, which is so helpful and different from the advice you receive from your direct team!
Unfortunately, most of my internships in college were remote due to corona :( But most internship programs are back in person now, and they seem so fun! Getting spontaneous lunches, hanging out in the city after work, and going on boat cruises…? 👀
3. Over-communicate
It will save you a lot of time and headaches if you over-communicate your questions and/or project statuses, compared to leaving questions and things to the last minute. A way I did this at my internship is that I would send a weekly recap email every Friday about what I did that week and the status of various projects, so my manager would not have to micromanage and would know exactly what is going on. Keeping a work log like this is also super helpful when it comes to writing your resume at the end of the summer as well as your midpoint and final reviews of when your manager is determining whether to give you a return offer!
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Overall, when it comes to getting return offers, as long as you do good work, maintain frequent communication with your manager/team, and build rapport with your coworkers, you should be good to go. Good luck on your internship! If you have any questions, leave a comment below or DM me!
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xoxo
