4 minute read
What Should You Do at the End of Your Internship?
The end of your internship doesn’t always mean the end of your time there. Find out how you can get the most out of your internship in the long run, even beyond your last day.
You’ve learnt important lessons, forged invaluable relationships and enjoyed yourself during your internship – it’s been fun! But now, the time for you to bid goodbye to your co-workers and bosses is just a few days away.
How do you draw your internship to a graceful close and put your work experience to good use? How do you ensure you can make the most of the contacts you’ve made?
Here are five things you can do to ensure that you end your internship on the right note.
Reflect on your accomplishments and what you’ve learnt
This is important, both for your self-awareness and future job applications. Take the time to think about your milestones and what you’ve done throughout your internship. These are great points to talk about with future potential employers during job interviews.
Write them down in detail before your internships ends so you can still check with your co-workers or fellow interns if there’s anything that slipped your mind. Do remember to include these key points in your notes:
• What you worked on • Who you worked with • Training received • Skills learnt
Additionally, aim to make your description as detailed as possible. You may include names of people, projects, products, cases, training courses, or software packages of note – whichever is applicable – and any relevant numbers. Moreover, if the company permits it, you can also get links to your past works to use for your portfolio.
For instance, you can document that you worked in a team of six or increased sales by 15 per cent. Detailed descriptions are as useful as concrete examples and they often make you more believable and persuasive in future job applications.
Also, take note of any feedback you’ve received, especially praise. These can earn you brownie points if you mention them in future job applications.
Update your resume and LinkedIn profile
After taking down what you’ve done and achieved during your internship, it’s time to make things official by updating your resume and LinkedIn profile. Try to do this while everything’s still fresh in your mind so you can accurately transfer your notes.
When updating your LinkedIn profile, ensure you make your updates public so that you can increase your visibility online. Besides, you deserve some attention for all the accomplishments you’ve realised! More importantly, you’re making recruiters on LinkedIn aware of your experience.
Confirm your internship employer as a referee
Most job applications require applicants to share details of their referees. So in the midst of your internship, don’t forget to check if your employer’s willing to provide a reference for you when you apply to future jobs or internships.
Confirm with your line manager or the HR manager if it’s all right to add them to your resume as referees and if they’re comfortable with providing their contact details when the time comes. To be safe, you can also ask them for a letter of recommendation.
Do take into consideration that your managers may have to find the time to write one for you, so it’s best to request a letter well in advance before your internship ends.
You may also ask if they’re willing to leave a recommendation for you on your LinkedIn profile.
Follow up on suggestions
If your colleagues have made suggestions that can help you progress in your career, such as introducing contacts or some things you should read up on, it’s time to get to it!
Your window of opportunity to follow up on new contacts shrinks every passing day. Besides, introducing yourself to someone by saying, “I met Jane Doe a year ago and she suggested I get in touch” will not reflect well on you!
And although background reading isn’t quite as pressing, it can be a thoughtful gesture as well as a good excuse to get back in touch with a soon-to-be-ex-colleague and say you found it helpful.
Keep in touch
Before you leave, think about who you would want to stay in touch with – they may be colleagues who’ve helped you, or others who might be willing to do so in the future. Ask them if they would like to stay in contact. If they are, you can exchange email addresses or connect via LinkedIn.
Once you’re done with your internship, you may find yourself quickly getting busy with school or job-hunting, and may eventually fail to keep in touch. Do make a concrete plan to follow through on your commitment to avoid this.
To make things easier and more efficient, you can create an email list of the people you requested to keep in contact with during your internship. Instead of dropping them an email only when you want something – which can reflect badly on you – make an effort to check in with them from time to time. It’ll show your sincerity, and it doesn’t hurt to refresh their memory of you too!
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