February 1, 2016

Question: What advice would you give future interns? What are the most important skills to be successful at an internship? How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning internship?

The biggest piece of advice I could give to a student who will be doing an internship soon is to start making connections and looking for an internship the first day of your junior year if not sooner. During the end of November and December I was very stressed because I still did not have an internship. A lot of people who I had talked to and said would be able to host an intern ended up not being able to and I fell into a position where internship was getting closer and closer and I still did not have one. This was a big stressor and it is something that is definitely avoidable. The next piece of advice I would give is just to go into it very openminded. When I started my internship I was not super excited about cold calling and talking to so many people that I did not know. However, looking back on it I gained so many skills that I will be able to carry on for the rest of my life. I also was nervous to be in an office environment but I think that it was really good for me to see what this was like, figure out what kind of office setting I want to be in, and form awesome relationships with my colleagues. I think the most important skills to go into internship with are open-mindedness, good communication skills, and a positive attitude. With these three things I think that it is possible to make any internship a really meaningful experience.