5 THINGS TO DO DURING YOUR INTERNSHIP
An internship is a job training for white-collar and professional careers.Internships for professional careers are similar in some ways to apprenticeships for trade and vocational jobs, but the lack of standardization and oversight leaves the term open to broad interpretation. Interns may be college or university students, high school students, or post-graduate adults. These positions may be paid or unpaid and are usually temporary (Wikipedia).
1. LEARN: Seize the opportunity to learn the job. Relate everything you do at work to your academic work at school. You will be surprised that what you learn within one month at the workplace may be richer than what you learnt in 3 years in school. Don’t restrict yourself to being the bank deposit errand boy in the company alone, be actively involved. You will be surprised how smart you will become after the programme.
2. PERFORM: Be very active. Don’t see the job as, “after all, I’m just here temporarily”. Your performance will market you. I have seen a situation where the Finance Manager of a company went very far in recalling a boy that interned in his department more than 3 years after, when a relevant job opportunity surfaced. Why? Because the boy did very well when he was an intern with them.
3. NETWORK: This can’t be overemphasized. Build network. Be friendly to everyone. During lunch hours, join the informal discussions (about football, tennis, politics etc). If you can establish personal relationships with people that matter in the organization, good. It will be easy to remember you when a permanent job opening comes up. It may not even be in the company. Some of these top guys have some other private businesses where opportunities will surface. Sometimes, they can recommend you to their friends in other companies.
4. PARTICIPATE IN COMPANY ACTIVITIES: Participating in company activities makes it easy for you to be remembered after your internship programme. Maybe some social or sporting activities, or some volunteering work. Just be active in the company. Don’t be surprised if the MD or GM fixes you somewhere on being told your internship period is over.
5. BE HUMBLE: I have seen some interns that don’t want people to know they’re temporary staff in the company. Some hide their ID card that reads “temporary staff”, some get mad when they are addressed as temporary worker. You’re being noticed. When you see yourself as being too big to be an intern, you’re just unnecessarily making enemies for yourself. You will be the last person to be remembered when permanent job opportunity comes up.
