You’ve done it – landed an internship you’re actually interested in with a company you would love to work for!
While internships are a great way for newly graduated individuals to get some work experience and build employable skills, they are also a talent pool for companies to hire from. Many companies find hiring from their interns to be cost-effective and fruitful. They don’t have to spend time and money on recruiting efforts, and the intern is already familiar with the people, the work, and the rhythm of the company.
So, how can you convince the company that it will be worth it to change your relationship status from temporarily together to committed full-time?
Here are a few things you should do as an intern to increase your chances of turning your internship into a full-time job!
Establish Your Professional Goals
Before you try to adapt to the organisation’s goals, reflect on and understand your own professional goals.
What area do you want to explore? What passions can you turn into employable skills? Where do you hope to be career-wise in a year? What kind of a career do you want to build in the long run?
Having a clear understanding of your own goals will help you evaluate what you can get out of the internship, and how you can achieve it. This will only make you more passionate about your work
Be proactive and ask to be given work in areas that you want to build your skills in. Identify ways in which you can fit your own goals within the broader organisational goals.
Contribute to your organisation’s vision to the best of your ability by establishing a vision for yourself first!
Find A Mentor In Your Supervisor Or A Co-Worker
Understand your boss and colleagues’ expectations from you, meet them, exceed them… you know the drill.
At the same time, look for someone who can mentor you among your colleagues or supervisor. Having a mentor in your co-worker or supervisor will not only help you learn the ropes quicker, but will also help you build a deeper relationship with someone at the organisation.
You will have someone who will be willing to give you genuine feedback, help you right your wrongs, stand up for you, and be in your corner.
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Show Willingness To Learn And Improve
Demonstrate initiative. Be proactive. And make it clear that you’re always open to learning and growing.
Don’t know how to do a task that a supervisor is asking you to? Instead of going into it blindly or declining the work, make it clear that you don’t currently know how to do it but are very interested in learning how to.
Ask questions. Volunteer to assist in other people’s work. Be open to feedback.
If you make mistakes or turn in unsatisfactory work, make it clear that you’re willing to learn from your mistakes and improve. Assert that with some assistance and guidance, you’re certain you’ll do better.
As an intern, your growth arch is what will be most impressive at the end of the internship. So, instead of simply sticking with what you know you’ll do well, push yourself out of your comfort zone and demonstrate how much you can learn and improve in a short span of time.
Identify Problems Not Currently Being Addressed By The Organisation
An intern is not just someone who goes on coffee runs, takes minutes during meetings, or blindly follows what they’re told. An intern is someone who brings a fresh set of eyes to the organisation. Use your objectivity to identify areas that could be running better at the organisation.
But, don’t just identify problem areas at the organisation; identify possible solutions to them as well.
Employers are always looking for people who take initiative, think outside the box, and help things run more efficiently. Demonstrate that you are someone who can do all of those things by identifying an issue the organisation is facing, putting forward a few solutions you can think of and how you could assist in executing those solutions .
Express Your Interest In Working With The Company
Even after your stellar performance as Intern Of The Decade, don’t leave things up to chance.
Don’t assume that your employer knows you wish to be converted into a full-time employee.
Be proactive. A few weeks into the internship, after you’ve demonstrated your capabilities, set up a meeting with your supervisor and verbally express your desire to turn the internship into a full-time job. Highlight all the reasons you love working at the company and all the reasons you think the company is the perfect place for you. Talk about the role you would be interested in occupying, and highlight the ways in which you would contribute to the company’s growth.
You bringing this up will make it clear that the end of your internship brings with it a decision to either keep you on as a full-time employee or to let you go. Your supervisors will then keep this decision in consideration when observing your work as an intern.
Even if the company has no current vacancies, expressing your desire to work with them will increase your chances of being contacted when a position opens up.
So, be the champion intern we know you can be, and turn that stint as an intern into a career you love!
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