Things shouldn’t grind to a screeching halt after you’ve completed the internship! There are plenty of ways to continue reaping the benefits of your internship experience long after you’ve turned in your nametag.
Reflect on your experience. Reflection is a critical piece of the career development process and will ultimately support your career decision-making, as well as allow you to better market and position yourself for future opportunities. The reflection you do now is also particularly critical when writing your resume and will prepare you for discussing your experience during future interviews. Consider the follow questions as you think about what your experience has meant and the meaning it has for your future.
Looking back on your experience:
What did you learn about the industry, the organization, and yourself? How did you grow in: academics, skills, career, and personal growth? Evaluate what you liked and what you would like to change. Do you feel differently now about your interest in this career than when you began the internship? What were your goals before the internship? Did you accomplish them? What did you accomplish beyond your established goals? What did you fail to accomplish? What new skills, equipment, or office technology did you master? What was the most important thing you learned from this experience?
Looking to the future:
Would you want to work at your internship site after graduation? Would you want to work in the same industry? Why or why not? What networking contacts did you make? What are your plans for organizing their contact information and staying in touch? What skills and knowledge do you want most to remember and use in the future? How has your internship influenced your academic pursuits?
Also, feel free to utilize the Intern Self-Evaluation and Intern Evaluation of the Internship evaluations when reflecting on your experience.
Update your resume and Portfolio. Make sure to update your resume soon after your internship experience to best be able to recall items of importance. Write action-oriented descriptions that convey your skills and are relevant to the position for which you are applying. It also makes a positive impression with employers if your descriptions highlight the results of your efforts and demonstrate the value you bring to the work environment. A portfolio allows an employer to see evidence of your skills and learning. Compile samples of work you've collected into a professional portfolio for your interviews. This may include a copy of a proposal you developed, a presentation you conducted, a customer letter you received, and so on.
Stay Connected by Networking. During your internship, you had the opportunity to connect with many professionals in your field of interest, so it is important that you continue to nurture these relationships. This can be done by occasionally corresponding by email, phone, or even meeting for lunch. Remember that networking is about building relationships. By maintaining the relationships that you formed during your internship, you will have additional support as you pursue continued career exploration and job searching.
Rusk Building, 3rd Floor 936.468.3305 careerservices@sfasu.edu www.sfasu.edu/careerservices
Write Thank You Notes. Take the time to write a personalized message to your supervisor and other team members who provided support during your internship experience. Your thank you notes should convey your appreciation for the experience and identify what you learned and how that knowledge will support your goals. This small gesture will set you apart from others and will also open a line of future correspondence. Your letter should be detailed, specific and written in either a standard business format or handwritten on a nice card. Below is an example of a thank you letter, written in business format: Hadda Greatime 2008 Forest Place, Apt. 218 Nacogdoches, Texas 75965 August 28, 2009
Sarah Alumna, Production Manager Happy Intern Films 900 Venice Ave. Los Angeles, CA 94887 Dear Ms. Alumna: I am writing to thank you for providing an internship for me this summer. As a film and video student at Stephen F. Austin State University, I was thrilled to have been chosen as one of this summer’s participants. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by film and the moving image. I came to SFA because I wanted to learn how to convey my vision of the world to large audiences using various media. This internship was my first opportunity to gain exposure to the behind-the-scenes aspects of the entertainment industry. As an intern, I had the opportunity to gain new skills: various lighting techniques, the importance of using a storyboard, and how to accurately record data from location shots. I enjoyed my editing room duties the most, not only because I was able to improve my Final Cut Pro skills, but also because it was at this stage of production that I felt most useful. My internship experience has confirmed my career goal of becoming a documentary filmmaker. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed many of the hands-on aspects of working on location shoots, and was energized by the challenge of thinking quickly to find solutions to small problems with few material resources. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with you, your advice about getting the most out of my SFA education, and for sharing your reflections about the project with me. Thank you once again. Sincerely,
Hadda Greatime Hadda Greatime
Ask for Recommendation Letters. Prior to the completion of your internship, make an appointment with your site supervisor. Be sure to thank him/her for the guidance you received during your internship. Then, ask him/her to write you a general recommendation letter that you could use to get a future internship or employment. Draw up a list of any other people at your internship who could be good resources for references, such as the team leader if you worked as part of a team, different department heads if you moved from department to department or a mentor who informally helped you. You can never have too many references. To make sure that you receive them before you leave the internship, start making your requests about two weeks before your internship ends, giving people enough time to write good letters.
Rusk Building, 3rd Floor 936.468.3305 careerservices@sfasu.edu www.sfasu.edu/careerservices
Market Your Experience. You are probably familiar with the cliché of needing experience to get experience. Luckily, you are not in that situation anymore! You have the experience, but now you have to sell it effectively. Identify what you are “selling”: your primary accomplishments from your recent experience, the skills used and the impact of those accomplishments. Sometimes it is helpful to talk with a parent, friend or advisor to clarify your thinking and better articulate your points. Next, implement your sales campaign. Professors, resumes, and interviews provide a strong medium for sharing your product: YOU! When interviewing, leverage your past internship experience by connecting it to the job for which you are interviewing. This includes addressing skills you gained that will be helpful to your future employer, rather than the ones most helpful to your last employer. Also, take a moment to share feedback from your internship experience and assist other SFA students in broadening their college experience.
Ask about future opportunities. Would you want to continue your internship? If so, do you have a specific project or plan in mind that you would want to work on for the company? If your internship is unpaid, would you want to transform it into a paid part-time job? Or if you’re graduating, do you want to apply for a full-time job? Discuss the possibility of future opportunities with your internship supervisor.
Rusk Building, 3rd Floor 936.468.3305 careerservices@sfasu.edu www.sfasu.edu/careerservices