Peer Career Consultant Blogs

Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door into companies and industries when you are first starting your career, and it is the goal of many interns to get a return offer after their internship experience. Employers evaluate interns based on many factors, but these factors are often made known to the interns during their time in the company.

In my experience as an Audit and Assurance intern, the factors that my managers considered when doing my performance evaluations were mainly based on my soft skills, leaving my technical skills to have lesser weight. Being able to work in teams well, having a positive attitude, asking thorough and thoughtful questions, displaying effective communication, problem solving, and having a good work ethic were all things that my coach and peers stressed were the primary skills that were important to receive a return offer.

During my internship, I made an effort to keep these factors in mind during my work. Before calls with my manager, I would think of questions about my tasks so that I could communicate these questions clearer. I would make an effort to network with my peers and other professionals so that I could get a feel for the company culture and make connections. Another thing I consciously did was organize my work email so that I could avoid missing any important tasks or messages from my manager. All of these things helped me to succeed during my internship.

A piece of advice that I have for incoming interns would be to ask questions to your coach or mentor about what they think is important in an intern. Companies might have differing values that they are looking for in new hires, so this could help you pinpoint what key practices are important for you to display during your internship to receive a return offer. Another piece of advice that I’d like to share is to remember that internships are as much for the intern as they are for the company. A goal of all interns during their experience should be to evaluate the company that they are interning for in order to see if it would be a good fit for them in the future. Do you like the company culture? Will the commute be too much? Do you enjoy the work? These are all examples of questions that I would recommend asking yourself during your internship. 

Overall, the way to stand out as an intern would be to ask questions and seek advice from others about how to excel as an intern. This will provide you with a clear path towards being an effective intern and leaving a positive impression on the company.

 

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