Crush that Internship Game

As a (lightly) season internship pro, I give to you these tidbits of wisdom. I have to offer a disclaimer, however, these are not my ideas. These are pieces of advice that I received while sitting where you are that I have lived out and now regurgitated for you, mama bird style. Now with that mental image in your head, let’s begin.

1. Learn how to ask good questions.

Imagine your time at an internship like learning to walk across a balance beam. At first, you’ll need a little bit of hand-holding to get you through. As you continue to walk across this beam day after day your confidence will grow and suddenly you no longer need a spot. Eventually, you’ll need to learn how to do the Simone Biles dismount internship equivalent on this balance beam to be the best you can be. This is when learning how to ask good questions comes in handy. When faced with a new project full of unfamiliar tasks, break it down. Start with Google first. Learn the terminology and see if you can connect it with any of your prior knowledge. Sometimes a handy google search is all you need to get started. Other times, the new words and phrases aren’t connecting in your mind. No worries! Take your newfound Googled knowledge and ask specific questions. A question about a specific part of the project is going to be much more productive than a ‘how do you do this?’

2. Take notes.

Write everything down. Literally everything. Until you have the information internalized to a point where you could write it from memory, write it down. Standing out during an internship could mean something as little as being the only person to not need instructions repeated or to not need clarification on the deadline. It could also mean the difference between asking good questions or waffling around in the land of unproductive learning.

(Did you write that down?)

3. You better work!

Regardless of your internship status- searching, applying, doing or completing- you better get your grind on. Not even once in my (albeit limited) experience has anyone ever told me I was over-prepared. I have shown up to meetings underprepared and missed out on a lot of cool opportunities. Stay up late, share your cover letter with anyone who will proof it, do the extra research, participate in mock-interviews, send the follow-up email. You probably won’t be praised for being overly prepared for something, but what you will do is grow your knowledge and raise the bar of what you think you can accomplish.

And hey, in case you didn’t know, even if you don’t got this, you got this!