How to Finish Your Internship Strong Before the Holidays

How to Finish Your Internship Strong Before the Holidays Image via Pexels As for me, I interned at a daycare center while in college. While my main goal was to observe and analyze behavior and then write reports for class assignments, the day to day experience with the infants and children younger than five was eye-opening and exciting. I didn’t care for the environment all that much, but the lessons I learned while working alongside adults and kids were unforgettable. Whether you thought your experience was so great that you want to work for the firm or you’re just glad it’s almost over, you’ve got one final green light before you can actually stop. Here are a few ways that you can finish your internship strong. 1. Be appreciative. Write a personal note of thanks to your supervisor and/or to the team or individuals you worked with letting them know what the experience meant to you. State one or two specifics that will show your sincere appreciation and make them feel like they have helped to make a difference and/or assisted you in your journey. You can always type something up, but handwritten notes are truly gracious and show you gave a good amount of thought to it. Before I left the daycare center where I interned, I wrote a handwritten message to my supervisor and my fellow teachers doing just that. 2. Ask for feedback and accept whatever it is. Many people don’t like to give feedback simply because most people don’t like to receive it or they fear it will be taken the wrong way. But you will only be able to measure your progress if you know how you did before. Ask your supervisor and/or co-workers for feedback. My supervisor did this for me at the end of my time. Let them speak their minds. What they say will help you become a better person and employee in the future. When your boss mentions your strengths, pay attention as this can help you present your accomplishments to future employees. If a boss mentions any weakness, pay attention to this too as this is important constructive criticism that will help you to refine some of your not so good points so you can grow into the best you can be. 3. Make a list of your accomplishments. Completing an internship is a huge accomplishment. Go ahead and give yourself a high-five or the Carlton Banks wink and gun move. While it is all still fresh in your mind, take a few minutes to update your resume and your LinkedIn profile if you have one. Don’t simply list things though. Make sure to write it on your resume in a way where you show (not tell) how your work impacted the company. Doing this can go a long way especially when you’re looking to get a full-time job in the future. If need be, consult your supervisor or a co-worker to ensure you’re writing what you did in a professional manner where another employer can understand it. 4. Network. Network. Network. Your internship experience is a time to meet new people and really get to know them. You will find out a lot about people by how they work and how they communicate at work. These may not be your close friends, but you can call on them for career advice if need be. So add all of your co-workers to your address book. If you got along well, add them to your smartphone’s contact list. Take time to find them on LinkedIn and connect there. Make an effort to check in or just touch base with them every once in a while, approximately 3-6 months. Ask what they’ve been doing and let them know what you are up to these days. When you communicate after several months of being away, consider talking about a recent news piece about the company or a new project that involves the company. This will inform them that you’ve stayed interested even after you left. 5. Make a plan. It’s tough enough to think about next week’s class assignments or tomorrow’s grocery shopping trip, but try to think about your future plans. Your internship may or may not be ideal, but one way or another, you learned some valuable lessons and skills that you didn’t have before. (Cleaning baby changing stations wasn’t in my ultimate career goals, but it did give me experience I never had.) Choose to steer your internship experience to the career path that you ultimately have in mind for yourself. If you plan to stay with a company after your internship, make that known to your employee. Just let them know you’d like to move into a part-time or full-time paid employee position and ask if there are any openings for that. Bad or good, it is completely up to you to stick around or move on. Just make sure there is a plan in place either way. So there you have it, five ways to finish your internship strong before the holidays. Good luck!