Blog Appétit

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After having held five internships and managed over twenty interns, I’m thinking I should change my job title to “Professional Intern”, how about “Intern 4 Life”? Or at least that’s what I used to feel like.

I remember the moment when I was juggling two internships in hopes that one of them would be hiring and come to find on the same day that both are not hiring for full time positions after. Now I know people say you KNOW when you hit your ultimate low and I never believed them until I hit this point. After months of working my tail end off, networking like crazy and living a double life by working for two competing companies because I figured working full time for either of them would be an honor, I was back at square one. Jobless and living in the city on a min. wage pay check.

So while my mom was making plans for me to move back home, I was making other plans.

Getting a job. But not just any job, a job that I wanted to work hard at and would enjoy coming to work everyday. A job that would combine all of my past internships into one and allow me to use what I had learned everyday to help better a company.

 This job came, but not without the help of people, experiences and lessons learned from my internships.

Every experience is an opportunity that will open another door, whether that’s within the same company or another one. Each experience will lead you to the next and so it’s important to stand out, but in the right way.

After being on the other side of interviewing/managing, I now know things that I wished I would have known when I was interning and want to share them with all the future or current interns.

 

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1. Be Reliable.

The number one thing people look for in an intern is someone who will get the work done without having to check in on them multiple times. Keep a running list of things the company is looking to achieve or tasks that need to be accomplished and work on them until completed. Nothing is better when I’m having a busy day and know I can send one of my interns a project and don’t have to check in again with them until end of day or until they completed it.

2. Run With It.

When given a task, run with it until someone stops you. Nothing stands out more than when you give someone a small task and they turn it into the next greatest idea. I’ve sent interns a simple Facebook post listing to do before and they turned it into a social media campaign that would countdown to the big event and give followers a reason to engage vs. the simple listing I originally had in mind. Talk about stand out in my mind.

3. Be a Team Player.

Leave your mark, but not by yourself. Good things come when people collaborate and work well together. When a future employer is looking for someone to hire, you are much more likely to be referred if they remember you as being a team player. Nobody wants to work with someone everyday who doesn’t know how to work well with others.

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4. Network, Network, Network.

I can’t stress this one enough. Not only does this look good to your boss that you are making the effort to meet potentially future clients or employees, but also it will open many doors for you in the future. While interning myself, I would research the guest list before and event where I knew I was doing check in and pick out the people that were of interest in my future job path and make sure to introduce myself to them while at the event. Yes, you may feel a little creepy but don’t worry they will be impressed more than anything.

5. Remember no job is too small.

No matter how small the task may seem, every task leads to something bigger and keeping a positive attitude while performing the task that nobody wants to do is what will get you noticed. If it wasn’t for doing check-in one evening at an event and introducing myself to a woman who connected me with my now boss, I probably would not be at the company I’m at now. Even a job as small as guest check in can lead to big opportunities so stay positive because you may just be checking in your future boss.

 

On the internship hunt? Had quite a few as well? Any tips you took away that helped you get the job you have now? Please feel free to share below.