This is a guest post I wrote for UrbanInterns.com…
You approach a small company or start up who has never hired an intern before about the possibility of working for them over the summer. They are interested in bringing you on board, but they don’t have a formalized training program or even much of a position description.
If they decide to make you an offer, should you just accept it on the spot so you know you’ll have something on your resume? Possibly…but that’s a risky bet. To make the most of your summer, your internship needs to be meaningful. And the best way to ensure that it’s meaningful is for you to take the lead on giving it some structure.
First things first, you need a job description 1) because you want to know what you’re signing up for and 2) it gives you something tangible that you can refer back to throughout the course of your internship so you can make sure you’re getting the experience you need to position you for full-time employment and your employer is getting the help they need to grow their business. Because they’re a small company, it’s usually much easier for you to pull something together for them to react to than it is to expect them to come up with something on their own.
Once you have a mutually agreed upon job description, you can initiate a discussion about a midpoint and final performance review. Doing so will put you in a position to receive actionable feedback that you’ll be able to address before the end of the summer and see how you throughout the course of the internship–this is especially important if you think there might be a shot at them hiring you on full time as you want to make sure you’re meeting their expectations and performing at the highest possible level.
If they don’t have a formalized training program, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s going to be up to you to get up to speed on your own. Take time to familiarize yourself with their business including their products and services. Listen for clues from management and coworkers about the challenges they’re facing as they could give you an idea for a project you could help get off of the ground.
And, speaking of which, don’t forget to speak up. Managers get busy. A typical 10 week summer internship goes by pretty quickly. If you find you’re spending most of your time on busy work or no work at all, approach your intern employer with ideas of how you might be able to help out on specific projects. You don’t want to come across as telling them what to do, but you do want to offer to help.
Adding structure to an unstructured internship is the best way to ensure a positive experience for the company and for you as their intern. The more meaningful your experience, the more meaningful it will be on your resume as you search for a full-time job.
These are very good points. Many more people will find themselves in this position this summer. These opportunities can be incredibly fulfilling because you have the potential to be exposed to so much more and do much more than a more highly structured internship, but they do have to be managed to make sure you have something meaningful that you’ve accomplished and learned at the end.
Andrea
Founder of Gotta Mentor
@Andrea-Thanks for the comment. I couldn’t agree with you more. One of the biggest benefits of an unstructured internship is having the latitude to tailor it to your interests and skill sets.
Great points by you and Andrea! To add my thoughts…
I think students can also take this opportunity one step further by helping the employer establish an internship program and creating structure for future interns. Students can develop an internal intern manual as a knowledge bank or repository that can contain various office procedures, vocabulary, frequently used documents, FAQs, and more. This manual could be used as a training manual for future interns. In addition, at the conclusion of the internship students can also work with the employer to identify projects that could be opportunities for meaningful work for future interns.
However they do it, students can add additional value to the organization by taking the lead on developing a meaningful and sustainable internship program. One that they will hopefully go back to school and help recruit for.
J.P. Matychak
Director, Career and Leadership Development Center
University of Pittsburgh, College of Business Administration
@J.P.-Great suggestion about creating an internship manual. That would be a great bullet point for your resume and something to talk about during interviews as an example of taking initiative.
If they decide to make you an offer, should you just accept it on the spot so you know you’ll have something on your resume?
@siir-I’m never a big fan of accepting an internship on the spot. It’s important to have something on your resume, but you want to allow yourself enough time to review the offer details and to ensure the experience will be meaningful.
Good post.
So first a disclaimer: I’m extremely biased as I am the founder of a startup whose main activity is to profile startups and track VC, angel investment activity.
But here goes:
The right startup provides a unique opportunity to really show your capabilities and stretch your intellect. They allow you to learn by doing not by sitting in a classroom (you get enough of that in school).
Startups are often the most meritocratic of environments e.g., they recognize and truly appreciate great work and don’t care about age, years of experience, etc. If you demonstrate you are competent, smart and driven, you’ll likely get more responsibilities, interesting work, and even possibly get some choice/say in what you do as there is never any lack of things to do. This is typically impossible in large organizations especially during a regimented internship.
But that said, internships at startups are not for everyone. If you need very specific direction and hand-holding,, the lack of structure may prove frustrating. Startups also don’t offer the luxury of hiding in a large corporate hierarchy so if you’re not doing high quality work or holding your own, it becomes apparent quickly.
If you’re not sure, give it a shot. The best part of an internship is that it’s temporary. If you decide you love the environment, it tells you where to go after graduating. If you don’t like it, you know that a larger setting is the right place for you. But at least by trying it out, you’ll never have to wonder “what if”.
Regards,
Anand
Co-Founder, ChubbyBrain
http://www.chubbybrain.com