Internships and work placements are tough. You cannot be sure if you are doing a great job, at most of the times, you won’t get paid. Internships do, though, provide a productive ground to learn new things –even if you are somewhere you would never work again or would be running for the hills after the completion of your internship.
Here I am going to share some work life and internship tips and guidelines for the students that have helped me a lot in my career and hope the same for you!
Don’t Do Lunch Alone:
It may look so basic, but the fact is that most of the people on their first day at internship try to lunch alone or they just feeling uncomfortable joining others. DON’T DO THAT! Eventually, you will be regretting it. Try to mingle with others instead.
It may take some time, but don’t hesitate to get to know other staff working with you in the same roof. Lunch is the ideal time for getting to know others; you can also ask others to join you. At some workplaces, teamwork and collaboration are more important than the actual work. Moreover, mingling will extend your professional network.
Ask questions where necessary:
At times, being an intern is more like holding an activated bomb and you have no idea how to defuse it. Whenever you need help, ask for it!Write down things you need to remember on a notepad; new interns encounter chunks and chunks of information being bombarded towards them from all directions and you need to remember it all.
Discover the ranks or positions of other staff. Every office has a different culture. Where possible, talk with a team member to unleash how things work here. Don’t forget to also ask for the response at the completion of your placement, even when you do not have to continue it.
Don’t gross out even when you’re down in the dumps
At my first internship at an advertising firm, I spent 3 weeks constantly writing on the same topic and I felt so exhausted. What made things worse was that I was having a hard time making friends there. I had to do my lunch along. It was a bad experience. Argh…
But this does not mean you should give up. I learned many things there and the effort that I put back then paid off in the form of other opportunities that I got later. If you want a different nature of the task, explore other departments and check their nature of work to search what interests you the most.
Know your worth
Experience matters and most of the companies are looking for experienced interns, therefore many interns get involved in free internships. But interns should not devote more than two weeks on an unpaid internship. As an intern, in the end, you will be doing the similar amount of work—and sometimes more than— others on a salary. As an average, two weeks is sufficient to get an intern-level experience and understand the workflow. For above than that, you perhaps are worthy of a wage.
Stay your normal
Even you are experiencing an office environment for the first time and have no idea how to actin such place, stay calm. You should be the attention seeker or the loudest person from your day one. Similarly, neither you would want to appear as a “silent killer” or hideous sort of person. Try not to overthink or overreact, just work hard and stay nice to others around you.
The more experience you have, the better it will be for your career growth. Many people are even translating their life experience into an online life experience degree, in order to have a proof for their skills and learning.
Author bio:
Michael Smith is a writer and consultant with many years of experience in student counselling. He also deliver lectures in different institutions and helps many student choose the right profession for them. He spends most of his time motivating youth to invest their skills on the best track.
