Benefiting From An Internship; Part 3
You have completed your internship and now want to continue to benefit from the experience but don’t know where to start. Internships Down Under has extensive experience in arranging internships in a wide range of fields and we are happy to share our knowledge. We have put together a three part series covering the ‘Before’, ‘During’ & ‘After’ stages of an internship detailing things to consider.
In this post we focus on things to consider ‘after’ the internship to increase your chances of future success. This stage is very important and often overlooked:
Final Day at the Internship
Your internship is coming to an end and the sad farewell is near. You have learnt all you expected from the internship and are now filled with knowledge and new experiences, but you still need something physical to take away from the internship to show future employers. It is recommended to request a reference (certificate) from your supervisor at least a week before your final day.
In your final days, make an effort to personally thank all staff members that assisted you during your internship. It is strongly advised that even if the internship did not meet your expectations, still try to end on good terms. Your supervisor, manager, colleagues and potentially other interns could be a beneficial industry network to your future career.
It is also recommended to ask your supervisor for feedback on the internship, career advice, and analysis of your personal strengths and weaknesses.
Knowing your weaknesses can assist you in adopting specific training in the future in order to improve and develop. Remember that your internship is a ‘temporary training experience’ and does not guarantee you future employment.
Note: Do not disclose confidential company information at any stage.
Promoting your new skills & experience
You now have a glowing reference from your time at the internship. It is time to ‘show off’ your newly acquired skills to benefit your future career.
Make sure to add your internship experience and skills learnt to your CV and motivation letter. Your internship host company may also be willing to provide a verbal reference to future employers if requested which can be noted on your CV.
Promote your internship experience on LinkedIn, and don’t be too shy to ‘boast’ in future interviews about the challenges you overcame, projects you were involved with and responsibilities you were provided.
Make sure to continue to get benefit from the internship even when it is completed..
Internship experiences can also confirm an industry in which you don’t want to be involved with any further, e.g. many interns enter into Event internships expecting to be involved on site at numerous glamorous events, when in fact ‘Events’ is very office based with hours spent researching suppliers, materials, etc. This is still a positive experience with a beneficial outcome as it has provided an accurate insight into the day-to-day activities of an industry.
What Next….
– Follow up on the feedback provided by your host company
– Set your career goal and define the steps to achieve these
– Maintain the relationships you made during the internship
– Keep notes/portfolios of the skills learnt during the internship
– Immerse yourself in the industry (read relevant articles, join industry associations, attend networking events, etc)
– Follow company & individual industry leaders
‘Work’ will most likely take up a large portion of your life, so try to be in an industry you ENJOY!
