How To Make The Most Of Your Summer Internship

So you landed a summer internship. Congratulations! Whether it’s your dream internship or simply a position that will look good on your resume, you should still strive to make the most of it and absorb all the knowledge you can. You never know who you’re going to meet or where those professional relationships might lead you in the future. 

With a summer internship, you have the opportunity to learn a lot about a given industry and develop skills that will aid your future career success, even if you don’t realize it right now. While doing menial tasks like organizing paperwork or taking meeting notes might not seem important right now, they’re actually very useful skills to learn. 

You can learn valuable lessons from any job if you have the right perspective. Here are five ways to make the most of your summer internship, no matter what your situation is or what type of environment you’re working in.   

Make Connections

You know that old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”? Well, it’s a cliché because there’s a lot of truth to it. Hard work will get you far in life, but having good connections can often get you farther. This is where networking comes in. While networking often feels like a slimy word, it doesn’t have to be. 

When you meet people at your internship, focus first on developing an organic relationship with them based on shared interests and other commonalities – not based on what they may or may not be able to do for you in the future. 

Networking won’t feel slimy if you’re genuine about it. Focus on developing friends first and connections later. Podcaster Jordan Harbinger’s advice about networking has always stayed with me. He advises people to “dig the well before you get thirsty.” What he means by this is that you should nurture professional relationships before you need them. That way, when you do find yourself between jobs or in need of career help later on, those people will be much more willing to help you because they consider you a friend – not just someone who’s trying to use them to get ahead. 

Develop Transferable Skills

The best professional skills to develop are transferable ones because they’ll serve you well from one job to the next, even if you change industries or professions altogether. If you’re doing a summer internship, it’s likely that the industry you’re in right now will not be the one you ultimately end up working in for the rest of your life, and that’s okay! 

Of course, there are some niche skills you’ll be encouraged to learn in order to do your job, and that’s great. But also focus on developing skills that will serve you well regardless of what industry you’re in. These include skills like writing, problem-solving, leadership, project management, computer skills, how to use AI, etc. Developing widely applicable skills will help give your resume and your confidence a boost no matter what field you ultimately end up working in.

Learn To Navigate Different Personalities 

You’re not going to click with every person you meet in life, and that is especially true when it comes to the workplace. At some point in your professional life, you will inevitably work with someone who, at best, annoys you, and at worst, you absolutely loathe. Depending on how closely you’re forced to work with this person, the situation can be tricky to navigate, but there are things you can do to foster better workplace relationships, even in toxic environments. 

Whether you’re interning at a small company or a large corporation, you’re likely to share space with someone who rubs you the wrong way. Instead of getting frustrated and venting about it to your co-workers (which isn’t wise to do anyway), think of this challenge as an opportunity. See if you can find a way to communicate and work in harmony with this person so that you keep your sanity and still maintain a high quality of work.

Figure Out Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Just as you’re not going to get along with everyone at the office, you’re not going to be good at every task either. We all have different professional strengths and weaknesses, and if you can understand what they are early in your career, you’ll set yourself up for more success later on. Remember that awareness is the first step toward growth. 

During your internship, consider which tasks you’re great at versus which ones you find more challenging. Why do some of the latter tasks challenge you, and what can you do to change that? The goal of an internship is to learn, so look around the office and see who might be a good source of wisdom for something you’re struggling with. Maybe you struggle with Excel or you’re not the best writer or you lack leadership skills. Find someone in the office who excels in these areas (no pun intended) and ask them to get coffee or ask if you can shadow them for the day. Pick their brain and emulate their actions. Genuinely complimenting people and asking them for advice and guidance is another great way to build your social network, so you can kill two internship birds with one stone here.    

Discover What You Enjoy and What You Don’t

While it’s never too late to change your career path, the earlier you can gain some clarity on what you enjoy doing and what you don’t, the better! Summer internships are great ways to gain exposure to not only different fields of work but different specifications within those fields. Maybe you always thought you wanted to be a lawyer, but after interning at a law office, you realize you hate it. Or maybe you don’t hate law in general, but you don’t enjoy the corporate side of it. Well, at least now you know!

Use your internship as an opportunity to discover what you’re passionate about and what you’re not. If you’re interning somewhere and really not enjoying the experience, that doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time. Now you know what you don’t want to do with your future. Learning what you don’t want in life is just as important as learning what you do want. So take those lessons to heart and use this period of self-discovery to shape your future professional goals. 

Closing Thoughts

The most important thing to remember about summer internships is that they’re temporary. So whether you’re loving the experience or hating it, it’s going to be over in a matter of months. Make the most of the experience by having a positive attitude, a solid work ethos, and an open mind. If you do that, you’re guaranteed to have a successful experience. 

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