As graduation season is among us, college seniors are throwing their caps in the air and entering ‘the real world’. For many, entering the real world starts with a post-grad internship as PR agencies often take on recent grads as interns. As an intern supervisor, and former intern turned full-time employee, I’ve seen many seniors take internships after graduation, stay on full-time and go on to have successful PR careers.
Consider these tips to turn your internship into a full-time offer.
Be in the right mindset: Treat your internship like an entry level position. In many cases there’s minimal difference between intern duties and entry level responsibilities, so take each day seriously and don’t view it as a temporary position.
Learning experience: View your entire internship as a learning experience, so every assignment and task gives you additional experience and skills that can transfer to your full-time job. Also take advantage that while you’re an intern you’re not expected to know all the answers and your colleagues are excited to teach you what they know.
Network: Build a strong network within the company. At least once a week during your internship aim to sit down with colleagues to get to know them and see what you could work on with them. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to seek out a mentor, advocate and sponsor. A mentor can help coach and develop you into a full-time employee, while an advocate is your champion to fellow colleagues and a sponsor elevates your career.
Focus on the work: Remember that at the end of the day, it’s about the work you produce. Make sure your work is high-quality and delivered before deadlines. As the summer goes on and you get a feel for the company seek work and projects that will last beyond your internship so you can carve out a place for you full-time. Also consider if you’re at an agency the financial implications of your hire and look for accounts to be on.
Test the waters: An internship is not only a time for the company to evaluate you, but for you to evaluate the company and see if you are a good fit before signing on full-time. Think of your career goals and if a full-time job at the company would help get you where you want to go.
In short, make yourself a valued employee that the company and your colleagues see you as an entry-level employee before you technically even are.
What did you do to land a job from your internship?
Jessica Noonan is an Associate at Burson-Marsteller and serves as Chair of the PRSA New Professionals Section. Connect with her on Twitter @jess_noons and LinkedIn.