Internships can make or break. Through internships, you can learn exactly what it is you want to do. Whether they are paid for or not can add to the stress of a college student. But as an intern, you can learn so much and even get hired where you’re interning at! Here are a few tips on how to stand out as an intern:
Engage With Your Team
Be involved with the people you’re interning with! The people you’re interning with have the potential to become your official coworkers. Get to know who they are and what they’re like. It’s always important to build close relationships with your fellow interns and mentors. Do you see a fellow intern struggling with something you know how to do? Help them out. Build that friendship up and help them succeed.
Always Be Ready to Learn, Don’t Be a Coffee Runner
Within the intern workplace, there will always be opportunities to learn. Ask your mentors if there are any tasks that you could help with. Don’t know how to do a task? Just go ahead and ask! Looking for new opportunities shows your mentors that you’re ready and willing to do more work. Someone that doesn’t take opportunities to learn ends up becoming what is known as a “coffee runner”. Coffee runners are those that never take the time to learn new work and end up becoming people that are taking coffee to others.
Be Hands-On, Don’t Be a Floater
Following up from the prior tip, be hands-on! Don’t just sit back and watch your mentors. Try to mimic what they’re teaching you as they are teaching you. Floaters just sit back and watch their mentors work. By doing this, they’ll think you’re lazy and just want the bare minimum experience. Be the one that works beside them on projects. They will notice that you’re working hard and will take note when it comes time to decide who gets hired on!
These are just a few tips on how to stand out as an intern. These tips were provided by those that had originally started out as interns. But by working hard, they were able to stand out among the rest of their fellow interns and get hired onto the company they were interning for! By following these tips and many others, you can get the best out of your internship and make a few friends along the way.
