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Internship Related Programs | Pursuing an Internship |
During an Internship | After an Internship
Learn from Your Experience
Although you are a busy NU student, it is important to take the time to reflect on your internship experience. The reflection you do now is particularly critical, as it can set the tone for your future experiences. Reflection is also 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.
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.
- What did you observe professionals in your field doing?
- Do you feel differently now about your interest in this career than you did when you began the internship?
- What networking contacts did you make? What are your plans for organizing their contact information and staying in touch?
Looking to the future:
- Would you want to work at your internship site full-time after graduation?
- Would you want to work in the same industry? Why or why not?
- What skills and knowledge do you want most to remember and use in the future?
- How has your internship influenced your academic pursuits?
- How has your internship influenced what you want to do next summer, during a given quarter, or beyond graduation?
As you reflect on your experience, be sure to examine your underlying assumptions and values. Push yourself to define what you learned and the implications for your future. Reflection is only valuable if you are invested in the process.
Reflection will provide you with information, but not necessarily with answers. We recommend that you meet with a Career Counselor to discuss the impact of your summer experience on your career plans. If you find that your experience has significantly affected your academic interests, we encourage you to connect with your academic advisor to learn about your options and plan accordingly.
Write a Thank You Note
After completing your internship, take the time to write a personalized message to your supervisor and/or other team members who provided support during your internship experience. Your thank you note should: convey your appreciation for the experience, identify what you learned and how that knowledge will support your goals, and provide your school contact information. This small gesture will set you apart from others and will also open a line of future correspondence.
Stay Connected by Networking
During your internship, you had the opportunity to connect with many professionals in your field of interest. 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/or job searching. Learn more about networking.
Market Your Experience
You are probably familiar with the cliché of needing experience to get experience. Well, you are not in that situation anymore! You have the experience, but now you have to sell it effectively.
Identify what you are selling: This step entails identifying 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 Internship Specialist to clarify your thinking and better articulate your points.
Implement your sales campaign: Professors, resumes, and interviews provide a strong medium for sharing your product.
Professors: Consider sharing what you learned during your internship with your favorite professor, or one who taught a class that you felt was particularly related to your internship experience. This interaction fosters a relationship with someone who may be a helpful reference in the future as you prepare for other internship opportunities or the full-time job search.
Resumes: The resume is an important piece of marketing collateral. Because the resume is often the first thing the employers see, it is important to not only include your internship experience, but also to clearly identify your value in a "real" work environment. Specifically, 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. Refer to Resume Development for information on resume writing, and don't forget to make an appointment with a UCS Internship Specialist or Career Counselor to review your resume and help you further refine it.
Interviews: Interviews provide the opportunity to share your experiences in a more in-depth manner. 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.
Sometimes an internship is not a completely positive experience for a variety of reasons. Despite any negative thoughts and feelings you may have, it is important to show respect for your internship organization during your interview. Negative comments in an interview can be interpreted negatively toward you. This doesn't mean you need to gloss over the challenges you faced while interning; simply focus the conversation on what you learned and the skills you gained.
It can also be powerful to develop and utilize a portfolio in an interview. A portfolio allows an employer to see evidence of your skills and learning. Compile all the work samples 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. Most importantly, be prepared.
Share Your Experience with NU Students
Please take a moment to share feedback from your internship experience.
Coming soon: You will be able to see where fellow NU students are interning and read about their experiences.
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