How To Ace Your Internship
By: Deya Bhattacharya
Tags: Productivity, Corporate Culture, Internships, Career Advice, Careers

Here’s some candid advice from the horse’s mouth on how to handle internship jitters like a pro.

Induction day

This is that one day where department heads get to talk about themselves to people who have to listen. Like most interns, I doodled and daydreamed those sessions away, but I’d advise you to at least note down the bullet points on each slide they show. It’ll help you get a basic idea of what each department does (and in most cases, a basic idea is enough). Plus, that way, when it’s time for them to throw out the dangerous “Are there any questions?” line, you can at least appear to have paid attention by asking “Could you please explain what (bullet point) is again?” Works almost every time.

Agreeing on the project aims and objectives

At some point after the induction, you’ll be assigned a project mentor and handed a sheet covered with detailed bullet points on what you’re supposed to be doing for the next several weeks. The best way to get down to the essentials is to ask your mentor — what is the main thing that they expect you to do? Schedule time for a detailed conversation during which you understand what’s expected of you and come to an agreement on how you will proceed. I cannot emphasise how important it is that both you and your mentor are on the same page about this — you do NOT want to realise in the last week of your internship that you’ve done one thing while your mentor was expecting something else.

Asking your mentor for help

This is where so many interns (including myself) trip up. We think that asking for help is a sign of incompetence. Believe me — it is not. Your mentor will appreciate you asking questions far, far more than you acting like you’re in control and then screwing up at the end. Ask questions whenever you feel stuck — and ideally, schedule an hour’s session each week to talk about how it’s been going and how the next week can go. If your mentor is even halfway committed to helping you do a great job, he/she will welcome requests for help from you.

Approaching others for help

You’ll often have to work with other colleagues, whether for answering a questionnaire, getting contacts, help with setting up a web page or anything else. In all likelihood, these people will view you as an interruption to their own busy days, so the best way to get their cooperation is to be cheerfully direct about who you are and what you want. Tell them clearly how they can help you, and ask them to block out some time for it. Follow up politely a couple of times, and thank them nicely once the work is done. Oh, and pro tip — for things like surveys, hand them out at least ten days before you need the results and tell them you need their response in five days. That, plus multiple follow-ups, is the only way you’ll get a substantial number of responses.

Making mistakes

The two fundamental truths of your internship can be laid down as follows. One — you will make mistakes, and lots of them. Two — the sun will keep rising and setting regardless. Trust me when I say that almost no mistake you make is irreparable. Even if you completely forget to send an agency an image set they need for tomorrow’s media launch (yep, I did that), it is NOT as big a deal as you think it is. Sure, your mentor will give you a talking-to, and you’ll feel as small as a baby ant for a few hours. But after that? Absorb the lesson you learnt, take extra care to not do it again, and move on. It’s as simple as that.

Preparing the final report

This is where you use as much corporate jargon and as many stylish PowerPoint templates as possible to show that you’ve done a marvellous job. It forms the major portion of your final evaluation, so leave no stone unturned to make it as impressive as possible. Get your mentor to spruce it up as much as possible, and download the fanciest templates you can find. Obviously, don’t compromise solid facts for fluff. And make sure you triple check each and every point you mention with your mentor so that you can handle any question your evaluators throw at you.

Presenting your report

Most internships will require you to talk about your project and your recommendations in front of an evaluation panel. While the presentation will lay out the skeleton of your talk, you have to substantiate it with enough verbal explanations, examples and data. Ensure that you practise at least a couple of times with your mentor beforehand so that you can be ready with answers to the questions likely to be asked. As for the talk itself, don’t worry too much about stammering or using fillers in your speech. While you should speak as calmly and confidently as you can, what matters more is that you explain your points clearly and answer questions to the panel members’ satisfaction. Do so, and they won’t mind the occasional pause or filler!

Asking for feedback

After your presentation is over, your panel should ideally provide you feedback on the spot. If not, ask them for it. While they won’t immediately reveal all the results of their evaluation, they should give you some general pointers on what you did well and where you could improve. In addition, have a one-on-one session with your mentor afterwards and get some more detailed feedback. Since he/she has been working extensively with you the past several weeks, he/she will have a good idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are, how you approach problems and handle tough situations and your general suitability for the role you were working in. Most importantly, make sure you stay in touch with your mentor even after the internship is over. He/she will be a great person to ask about career advice, help with professional projects or just general life advice.