Natalie Wittaker
Maximizing Internship Opportunities
Summary
First with this workshop we learned the importance of obtaining an internship while we are students in school and that is to gain more work experience, have better networking, and to have higher salaries after graduation.
After learning the importance of internships, Natalie then talked about how to get an internship and she highly recommended that we look outside our comfort zone and think outside the box when looking for an internship. Also, it is important to look for industries that are currently hiring even if we do not have an interest in that field because a lot of companies are not hiring right now due to the bad economy. She also said that we need to read the fine print of the internship description before we actually commit because it could be an internship that would be only peon duties. Also, it is a good idea to research the company before applying for them that way you know about the company before your interview and talk about how you would benefit the company.
The four recommendations that Natalie had for us for internships was to be professional in the workplace and to remember its not all about you, and don't create more work for somebody else. The second was to be proactive and to seek opportunities by going above and beyond what is just expected. She also suggested it would be a good idea to job shadow those you will be working with. Thirdly work well and work hard by always having a good attitude even during the projects and assignments you don't want to do, be helpful at all times , and stay busy during work hours and that you always need to be working and find work to do. The last recommendation is to build relationships and build bridges with everyone that you work with in the office, and always say thank you and send thank you notes back to the place you interned for and always stay in touch with that person.
My Thoughts
Even though I knew a lot already about what she had to say I still found quite a bit of information useful from this workshop that I wish I would have known before doing my first few internships. I wish that I would have done a better job in my last internship building stronger relationships, and talking to as many people as I could. I think it would have been good to send them thank you notes afterwards to thank them for the opportunity to intern at their company and to stay better in touch with them, but I did not. I also found it helpful that she said to always have a good attitude with work even if we are given an assignment that we do not want to do or think is not beneficial. I think this is good advice even for me now with the job I have as a manager on campus. Sometimes I think I do not have the right attitude and I think that needs to change so others around me will follow my example and that they will have better attitudes and will work harder.
Extra Credit Location
I want my extra credit on the Style Guide-1.