How was your internship experience?

[tlaxa]

So it seems I'll be doing an internship for a few weeks at a small firm (with a faint hope that I will get a permanent job afterwards...a very faint hope). So I'm wondering, what were your own internship experiences like? Did you guys do well and get a job, or learn some painful lessons from it?

 

[lifersfc]

I learned that work is a *****. It made me appreciate my last year of school (and freedom).

 

[sonick]

The first few months are awesome. Working all day, free time at night and on weekends, no studying or homework.

After a few months it starts to sink in and work starts to suck. And its not coz the job is bad, just the daily grind of things. My supervisor was awesome and the job was great, but after awhile, it just gets too routine.

Then you'll start longing to go back to school.

 

[tlaxa]

Yeah, I'm missing my school days already!

I'll be lucky to get a month - I figure if I don't impress my boss within a fortnight, I'll have to polish my resume for the next round of job searching...

 

[mmhollis]

Here's the thing bro. I'll be honest most interns are lazy, or don't go out of their way to go the extra mile. If you do that you'll probably impress associates and partners alike and get what you want.

 

[tlaxa]

Hard work I can do - but I'm looking to get a step further, and try to give the consultants enough support that when my 3 weeks internship is up, they'll consider hiring me permanently.

It's a challenge - I'm competing against other job applicants with more experience than me, and my own experience amounts to zero - but it's worth a shot.

Any thoughts or advice? I'm pretty much working on enthusiasm alone, while trying to learn as I go.

 

[Dakota rube]

My internship was fine until the boss tried to stick a cigar up my......

 

[VKK3450]

I did an internship out of undergrad that resulted in a job I stayed at for 5 years.

I came to hate my job... Wonder if that means I had a successful internship or not...

K

 

[JetBlast]

My internship helped me to realize what I wanted in a career more than anything and also helped me to get my current job, even though it wasn't really a "full-time" internship so to speak (only a few nights a week and weekends). It was definitely worth it for me, if you go the extra mile to impress your employer it pays off.

JB

 

[Tck13]

My internship sucked. I would definitely do some research into the company that you are interning (are they a company you want to work at?) with and ask some people about their experiences when they were doing their internship.

A good internship can really propel your career. A crappy internship can set you back IMO.

 

[Huntsman]

Mine was great. I worked hard, did publish-worthy research, invented a design that got me patent #1, and consequently, my job. Liked it so much I stayed on during my final semester, and actually had fun because I had some money. Sweet all around.

~ Huntsman

 

[tlaxa]

What sort of stuff did you guys do to get noticed? Like did you take your own initiative and do more than what the supervisor says? (ie. they tell you to call a clients to confirm payment, but you do that and then discuss the possibility of further work with the clients)

I've been cautiously doing that a bit, trying to do the work independently without being told each step - but at the same time, I don't want to go too far and end up making a costly mistake for the firm.

 

[JetBlast]

What sort of stuff did you guys do to get noticed? Like did you take your own initiative and do more than what the supervisor says? (ie. they tell you to call a clients to confirm payment, but you do that and then discuss the possibility of further work with the clients)

Usually it's generally just going over and above the call of duty, so to speak. I only worked 2 nights a week and Saturdays at my internship, but I could be found at the airport literally every day for at least an hour, even if I wasn't scheduled to be there. I also did a lot of unpaid work that helped to contribute to the work of the airline I was on with and that worked out really nice too. My supervisor actually ended up recommending me for my current job, so it paid off.

JB

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by tlaxa

What sort of stuff did you guys do to get noticed? Like did you take your own initiative and do more than what the supervisor says? (ie. they tell you to call a clients to confirm payment, but you do that and then discuss the possibility of further work with the clients)

Yeah that strikes me as not knowing your place. It's not all that simple really -- you don't want to do more than your supervisor says, you want to to do what he wants exceptionally well. Give him more than he expected without doing more than he asked. The contradictory part is that yes, you do want to do more than he asked of you, you do want to shoe initiative, but you have to take care where you excercise that initiative, as I mentioned above, by doing things that are not appropriate for your level. This will vary from firm to firm and boss to boss and job to job -- the key is that they will be looking for your discernment when you make those calls.

Luck,
Huntsman

 

[madison avenue]

what do they look at when you apply for an internship I work for myself and never applied for one. I'm curious justcincase one day life brings me to an internship