How to make the most of your internships

I love my internship. I hate my internship. It will look good on my resume. I hope it leads to a job. It’s paid so who cares what I do. I sat in a client meeting today. I spend at least two hours each day looking at Facebook. I’m totally bored. Will it look bad if I quit after three weeks?

Ah, internships. Ya gotta love ‘em. There’s nothing like feeling you’re simply free labor. The internship should be, of course, for the benefit of both you and the employer. That’s not always the case.

So how do you make sure you get something out of your internship, other than five credits? The successful internship depends primarily on a good plan to make full use of, and educate, you! Be strategic and approach your internship with goals in hand.

CREATE AN OVERALL PLAN. You should know before you begin what your responsibilities will include. In the interview for the internship, ask them what you will be doing. You should tell your supervisors that you would like to have a few items you can add to your resume and portfolio by the time the internship is completed. Discuss goals early in your internship so that 10 weeks down the line your goals will be met. Agree upon responsibilities in writing and refer back to them at regular intervals.

MAKE A CHECKLIST OF RESPONSIBILITIES. You should ask for one or two large projects to continuously work on throughout your internship. That way, during “slow periods,” you’ll have a project to return to. In addition to long-term projects ask for a list of reasonable short-term assignments to complete, sometimes on a daily basis. Don’t forget to include experiences you would like to be exposed to: observing a client meeting, attending a brainstorming session, shadowing an executive, talking with entry-level employees, watching graphic designers at work.

SET EXPECTATIONS EARLY. If a weekly update would be helpful to you, be sure to include that in your checklist of items. Not every assignment will be substantive so demonstrate that you also do grunt work—all internships have some and interns should expect it. Meet regularly with your supervisor to ensure expectations are met and to provide feedback.

LEARN NEW SKILLS. INCLUDE A CHALLENGE. A good intern should want to learn both general and industry-specific skills, and want to be challenged. Try to learn a new computer program that you can use to help you get a job. Ask to learn effective and efficient internet research. Discover gaps in your knowledge and skill-base and work to fill those gaps. Find a new challenge—training others, providing background information to a reporter, briefing a senior-management executive—and tackle the challenge.

STAY IN TOUCH AFTER THE INTERNSHIP. A periodic e-mail or call means a good connection and may help in securing your next internship or job. After you revise your resume, ask your supervisor to review it and your portfolio AND write a recommendation letter if warranted.

USE ALL OF YOUR RESOURCES. Use your contacts, academic advisors, university career offices and professors to help you set internship expectations. Don’t be shy…people generally want to help!