How To Get The Most Out Of Your Internship

During your internship, try to learn about a range of things. If you’re interning with the marketing department, seek out employees on the editorial team, or the programming department, and try to learn how their work differs from your own.

During your internship, maybe you’ll write your first newsletter or computer program, create a schedule, or run a project (if you’re lucky!). But some internship programs reserve tedious grunt work for interns. Rest assured, no matter what work you do, you are gaining knowledge and skills that are different than the ones learned in the classroom.

Even simple tasks — reaching out to staffers for the information to include in a daily email, say — can still look powerful on your resume. To that end, keep track of everything you learn and do during your internship. It may be helpful to keep a journal. Or, just have a draft email, and note in it every time you do a new task with the date. For instance, “11/9, learned new Excel formula;” “11/22: attended conference and presented key points in staff-wide meeting.” Later, when you’re writing up a description for your resume, these notes will be invaluable.

As an intern, you’ve practically got “newbie” in your title. That may be frustrating, and sometimes limit you from more exciting projects, but it also means that you’re expected to not know everything. So feel free to ask questions, always.

The best internships offer challenging, interesting work. But sadly, that’s not always the case. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you’re struggling to stay engaged:

Volunteer for additional work and projects if you’ve completed your assigned tasks. Or, better still, generate a list of helpful projects or tasks, and ask your manager if it’s OK to move forward with them.

If you’re part of a group of interns, know that you might form relationships that will last a lifetime. So do socialize with your peers (but not at the cost of your work — use lunch time and coffee breaks for conversations, not cubicle-time).

Go beyond the interns for your social circle, too. Ask co-workers to coffee, or try to sit with co-workers at lunch. Attend work-wide social events, and mingle. (Warning: If there’s booze served, even if you are of age, partake sparingly. Being the intoxicated intern at a work event is not a good look.)

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