Preparing Before Internship Starts
Get an internship. This is an obvious first step, but one worth mentioning. Sometimes the thought of even getting an internship can be a challenge for some people. But by having a clean resume, going to career fairs and professional conferences, and presenting yourself professionally many students can attain an internship. Do plenty of research on a company before applying for an internship with them. Then, send them an email describing how passionate you are about the company's mission, and how honored you'd be to work as an intern for them. In your email, include a bulleted list of everything you have to offer as a potential intern.
Maintain regular and clear communication with your HR recruiter and your manager. You want to make sure you clear up what your start and end dates will be, the work site you will be working on, and what you should have ready by the first day of work orientation. Additionally, you may be moving to a new city or state for your internship. Make sure you clear up with your HR contacts what kind of travel and living expenses are covered by your company and find an apartment several months in advance that provides the proper amenities. And you may want to look into the costs for renting or buying a car while you are in a new location if you do not bring your car with you.
Starting Your Internship
Start your first day right. On your first day of work you will likely attend a daylong orientation process, which officially makes you an intern for the summer. Here you will likely get your employee badge, necessary work equipment (like a laptop, monitors, workstation, etc), and get to meet other interns or coworkers. This is a good day to take it easy and meet new people in your work network. Even if you do not work with someone directly on their team, it is very possible that you will work with them indirectly through projects or collaborations, so you want to make sure you make a good impression with your new coworkers.
Get to know the expectations. Even after going through orientation on your first day and setting up your workstation, you might still need a few more resources to actually start doing productive work. Talk with your manager about your scope of work in the team and what you are expected to deliver. Ask your manager and coworkers what software tools and extra resources are required, and if there are any rights or permissions you require to be approved to perform the job effectively without too many obstacles. Additionally, you will possibly have new employee trainings that you have to get out of the way before you do productive work. If your manager and work permit it, ask for VPN access on your laptop so that you may do work from home.
Performing Throughout Your Internship
Settle into your role. By now you should have a pretty good understanding of the kind of work you and your coworkers do and how it affects other teams and the company as a whole. Your team might be composed of smaller sub-teams, each of which focuses on a specific project, or it might be the case that every member of the team works towards a large scale and long-term project that requires regular updates. Whatever the case may be make sure you find your role in the team. If it is the first mentioned case, attempt to find small projects with each of the sub-teams that can be accomplished within the short time you will be interning. If it is the latter case, make sure you designate most of your time and resources towards the big project at hand and help your team mates however you can.
Work as closely with your manager as you can while still being independently productive. You want to show you can get tasks done, but you also want to gather all feedback you can. Make sure you meet at least once with your manager within the first month for a performance management assessment. This is important for two reasons: First you want to make sure that you are doing work well according to your manager’s expectations. Your manager should let you know if there is anything you need to improve on or anything you have been doing well so far. Secondly, a performance management assessment done well shows your manager that you are taking your job seriously and opens the possibility for them to hire you into the company after you graduate from college.
End on a high note. By this time you should be wrapping up all of the projects you have been assigned. You should meet one last time with your manager for a final performance management assessment and discuss the possibility of working full time after graduating from college. Additionally, if you are still going to be in college a year or more after the internship is over (either as an undergraduate or graduate student) many companies will offer you the possibility of interning again at the same company. If this is something you are interested in you need to contact your HR recruiter and let them know this and fill out the proper ELOA (Educational Leave of Absence) so that you may come back next year without many hassles. If you need to write a report as part of the finalization process for your internship, ensure that it is professional, objective and descriptive.
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