The point of an internship is to prepare yourself for a job. Listing your weekly duties and accomplishments will help make concrete the skills you’re developing at an internship abroad. Next time you’re preparing for a job interview, writing a cover letter or updating your resume, you can look back on these weekly duties and accomplishments.
Getting to know coworkers can be a challenge while everyone’s running around with stuff to get done. Take advantage of lunchtime to establish personal relationships with your coworkers. It will create a more positive atmosphere among your colleagues and will serve as a form of networking.
A truly valuable employee not only knows about their own job, but understands how each employee contributes to the goals of their organization or company. Take advantage of your internship by spending a little time each week looking in on what other coworkers are doing so you can get a better idea of how your workplace and industry works. The more you know, the more your value.
Whenever you’re in a professional learning situation, it can be very useful to keep track of what you’re learning and reflect on that. It can help process new information at the end of a long week and solidify new skills and understanding.
Keep your eye on the prize while you’re at your internship. The point of all of this is to end up with a full-time position in your field. The best way to find that is to prove you’re a capable, dependable employee through the work you churn out. That’s why you should spend a little time each week thinking about the work you’re taking away from this experience, developing a portfolio of work, keeping track of your major accomplishments at your internship and how that can lead to a job.
Stay curious throughout your internship. Ask questions, big and small. Not only will your interest in how the workplace works impress your boss and colleagues, you’ll end up soaking in so much more information about your industry.
Taking on projects we feel comfortable with is fine, but it’s hard to really push yourself and learn something new without venturing into the unknown and pushing your limits a bit. If you don’t shy away from challenges or hard work, you’ll end up growing a lot more personally and professionally.
Sources: https://hbr.org/2016/07/6-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-internship, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lexi-herrick/21-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-internship_b_7845572.html
Photo 1. by The Intern Group
Photo 2. by The Intern Group
Photo 3. based on Todo list Nov 20 2015, by Becky Stern, CC-by-2.0