Dear Intern
Dear Intern,
As I wrap up the last week of my internship, I just wanted to share a little bit about my experience. As someone who had the same summer job for the previous 4 years, interning was a new season that I was excited to navigate. I would love the chance to share some tips and tricks that might help you as you enter this new and exciting season.
When October of my junior year rolled around, the idea of applying to internships was on the horizon. I spent some time updating my resume, creating a cover letter, and making connections on LinkedIn.
In November, I had seen that many internship applications were posted to LinkedIn and began applying. After many, many applications, some interviews, a couple of follow-up interviews, and three offer letters later, I accepted an offer for a company in Atlanta in the spring.
After a summer of navigating intern life, I wanted to share 10 tips that might be helpful as you approach this exciting and new season of your academic journey.
1. Start early. I started my internship search in October of my junior year. Although it seemed like the school year just started and I shouldn't be thinking about summer plans, it was very necessary as it still took until the spring to receive an offer letter. Had I started in the spring, it would have limited the companies that still had internship opportunities available.
2. Have an open mind. As someone who is very Type A, having an open mind was a little daunting. I love to know exactly when and where I will be going, but with an internship, that wasn't the case. I had to be comfortable with seeing what would come my way. Having this perspective led to an opportunity that I didn't even know existed. I ended up at a wonderful company in a new, fun city that allowed me to grow!
3. Make LinkedIn your most opened tab. LinkedIn became a very helpful resource. I used it to see when internship opportunities were posted, see which companies had alumni from my school, and learn about various roles within companies. Make sure your profile is updated and showcases your skills because companies will use it, too.
4. Tap into your alumni network. When I received an offer from the company I ended up interning with, the first thing I did was ask my internship advisor if there were any former students of hers who had interned there in the past. She keeps an incredibly detailed record of who has interned where and found a student who had the internship the summer before. I quickly reached out to her and asked about her experience. She spoke highly of the company and how inclusive they were of interns. This was an immediate green flag, and I accepted the offer after hearing from her. It was a full-circle moment when she got hired immediately after graduation and joined the office full-time about two weeks after I started my internship. We frequently ate lunch together, and it was such a blessing to have her there as she had just been in my shoes!
5. Find friends from your school who are interning in the same city. When I accepted my internship, I began asking around and seeing if any of my college friends were planning on interning in Atlanta that summer. I was excited to learn that four friends of mine were. This prompted our search for somewhere to live together. We found a sublet on a nearby campus! It was really sweet getting to come home to so many familiar faces and have a piece of Auburn in Atlanta.
6. Be early on your first day. This one seems obvious, but I can't express how helpful it was. It allowed me some time to figure out where I needed to park, what floor I needed to find in the tall building, and even gave me a chance to introduce myself to my supervisor before the onboarding meeting. My supervisor even walked me around the office, introducing me to many of the directors and vice presidents of the company, which was helpful to have an idea of during onboarding introductions because there were a lot of new names and faces.
7. Find a community within your new city. As I mentioned earlier, I was living in a sublease on a college campus during my internship. I used it as an opportunity to get plugged into some of the organizations that the university had active during the summer term. The coolest part was that there were a ton of other interns who had the same idea. We quickly formed a little group and created a weekly schedule that helped us cultivate community throughout the summer. We had weekly dinners and pickleball nights. We also explored Atlanta and did fun adventures like TopGolf.
8. Expand your network. Atlanta had a lot to offer. One of the coolest things that I was able to tap into was a series called ATL Interns After 5, which was hosted by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. This series hosted weekly events that gathered interns from across the Atlanta area and allowed them to network and form connections. What was really cool was the fact that we will be the next generation of people working in the industry.
9. Write a lot of thank-you notes. This one might seem obvious, but I found some time during my last week to write thank-you notes to everyone who had trained me, allowed me to shadow them, or even people who were just friendly faces in the office. It wasn't necessarily the thank-you note that was the most beneficial part but, delivering them allowed me to have one final conversation, let people put a name to my face if they hadn't already, and most importantly, take the opportunity to verbally say thank you.
10. Reflect on how you grew as a person. As the summer came to a close, I was really surprised to sit down and reflect on how much I had grown over the summer. I now feel like I am equipped to take on whatever life holds post-grad. Before the summer, moving to a new city, forming connections, and exploring a new company sounded daunting, but now I feel like with some more learning that inevitably will happen in my senior year, I will have the tools needed to approach post-grad life come May. I hope this gave you some encouragement as you enter this exciting season. As a young person, I have learned that when you ask for advice or guidance, so many people are willing to give it because they were once in your shoes!
With warm regards,
Caroline
