Internships are a necessary evil in career advancement. From three day ‘work experiences’ to six month placements, they all help fill up your CV, but with the right attitude they can do more.
Picture Erin in ‘Going the Distance’ – a thirty something intern desperate to get experience and prove herself in the increasingly catty, narrow, and pompous world of journalism. She thinks outside the box, takes on the work no one else wants, and gets right up in the face of the big boss.
GET NOTICED: You need to be a ballsy intern. Ok, so it may not have worked out exactly how Erin wanted, but she got her name on the map. As an intern you will be pigeonholed into one department – probably moons away from the place you would actually like to be, and so it is your job to find yourself in the right place at the right time.
RESEARCH: by researching the company and the employees that are in the job you want. Even if outside your division, make time in your lunch hour, or better still, after hours to introduce yourself to those people and that person. Befriend them. Make them tea, and earwig. They will be stressed over their large workload, and you should offer to take the smaller nuggets to prove yourself capable and then who knows what they will have you doing next.
INITIATIVE: Use your initiative. Find out what makes them tick and come up with a new idea – and just run with it. If they don’t use it that’s ok, as you will still be remembered as the intern with flare – will balls.
SELL YOURSELF:Make a list of your goals and what you want to gain from that particular internship. By setting up a meeting with your supervisor and discussing them you’ll have your foot in the door. Stress how important it is to you to achieve as much as you can when working there. You could even give them a copy of your portfolio which will highlight just how keen you are.
The way I see it is if you are working for free (or near it) you have to exploit the company so you get maximum experience and have the maximum impact. You must unfortunately kiss ass. This all may sound like common sense but it can be overwhelming as an intern. People see through you, and expect very little of you, and so it is easy to get comfortable and just roll with the monotonous jobs thrown at you, prove them wrong!
This is your chance – so take it.