Meet The Interns

It’s that time of year again; the suns out, exams are over and graduation season is fast approaching! It just seems like yesterday I received my university results and was preparing myself for my highly anticipated walk on the podium. For many of you graduating this year you may have already started thinking about the next step. You would have found yourself endlessly revising for exams at the start of your summer, to celebrating your final results. Which will eventually lead to you considering your first step within your career, by the time the hype has died down and the summer is over. You may already have an idea of what you want to do and may even have a few jobs prospects lined up. For many people after university a period of interning is the next step. Yes guys after landing yourself in over £30,000 of debt in university fees, working for free may just be the next step.

 

Things are very different from 20 years ago when most graduates where guaranteed a steady well paid job straight out of university. The competition is so high now, that many recent graduates have to now intern in order to gain their first step on the career ladder. I decided to have a talk with two ladies who both graduated in 2012 to discuss the do’s and don’ts  when it comes to interning. Kenke Danmole who currently works for Elle Magazine and Jamelia Donaldson who has started her career within financial services highlighted some key points to get you through the interning phase successfully and smoothly.

Speak Up

When you first start your internship you may think the best way to get through it is by keeping your head down. This approach is right to an extent but ‘keeping your head down’ can easily have you lost and becoming the intern no one remembers. I know this whole experience may be very daunting but I have had to learn for myself over the past year that being silent gets you nowhere.  Kenke highlighted during our conversation that it is important that your team get used to your voice, so speak up in meetings and have an opinion. Its not necessarily about saying the right or wrong thing but more about your presence being felt within the working environment .

Make the Executive assistant your BEST FRIEND

Executive assistants are a special breed of their own and I sometimes think they take their job role more seriously than those they are assisting. I’ve never seen their importance whilst interning as I find them very annoying and calculated people. Although Jamelia pointed during our conversation that your relationship with the executive assistant could be crucial to the progression in the company you are interning at. Assistants harness more power than you would expect. Building a strong and genuine relationship with them will have them bending over backwards to give you the help, when you need it. Find a common interest, no matter how different your personality’s are try your best to build a relationship, this will come in very handy when looking for a more permanent position.

Take every opportunity

Different opportunities present themselves all the time, although at first glance it may not be exactly what your looking for. The‘perfect’ internship should not be your main focus. Taking advantage of all opportunities in order to build on your skills should be a key focus for you. Although my experiences over the year haven’t totally taken me out of my comfort zone, Jamelia shared that a couple a years back whilst looking for internships she saw an advert for an internship in China which she took. Most of us would be scared to take an internship abroad but these bold steps really do set you apart from the rest of the interning crowd.

Two Steps Ahead

Most company’s operate at a very fast pace especially in the financial and creative industries. Most interns are not used to this fast paced working environment and often find themselves swallowed up because they just can’t keep up. I found myself wanting  to crawl into a hole at one of my previous internships because I just couldn’t keep up with the pace. When you start interning its important to not only keep up but to be always be two steps ahead. You should always be ready to start a task before your boss has even asked you to do it. What is needed? What could you do to make your boss’s day run smoother? What tasks could you make a start on? These simple things show initiative and in essence makes your life much easier as an intern. You won’t feel as pressured with your work load if your already two steps ahead. 

Make Tea

I know this last point may sound very silly but trust me making tea will take you far in this life! It is so important to make friends whilst you are interning with both senior staff and your fellow interns. You never know which ‘friend’ will be offered a promotion who could one day offer you a job. Offering to make your office mates seems to be a great ice breaker when making friends in the office. Why not use this as a way of building relationships, you'd be shocked how offering someone tea can improve intern points with an office!

Hope this helps,

AK

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