How can you leverage internships to build your professional network?

While starting out and applying for open roles, it is good to prioritize based on areas of interest first rather than industry or company - software engineering, sales, consulting, product management or others. But stay open because as you start exploring and digging up information on all the opportunities that are out there, you might find yourself leaning towards something entirely different. Then once you land in a company, be sure to try and build connections across different teams and verticals so that you get to learn about those other roles from the inside and not just the one you're in. This could eventually inform your career path choice. So start out with a broad view and narrow down your options based on new things you learn.

Actually, I would disagree with this. When first stepping in the world of internships, considering you are young, currently in your graduation or recently graduated. During this time, I would say to explore opportunities, many-a-times we have a tendency to chase only what we know so we can try to be good at it. My perspective is to explore more areas of the industry, that not only will increase your options of choosing a career path that is more tuned to you but will also help you with different skills like communication, discipline, willingness to learn, adhering yo deadlines and so on before you enter the job market. Over in all, I would conclude that internship is a valuable segment of one's life.

Internships are amazing for the following reasons: - You get your foot in the door to organizations/institutions - You get to learn about the work, get feedback on your performance and grow - You get an opportunity to meet amazing people - But, how you use this time is essential. Whether paid or unpaid internships, your time as an intern is essential. Be curious, show up, ask questions, put your best foot forward. Humble yourself. No matter how much you thing you know and how on top of your class you are, you are an intern because you’re starting your journey in the professional world. Listen more than you speak. Be the best pencil sharper or coffee maker, etc. that you can be. Honor people. Do all these and you’ll go far.

I would say this is one of the most overlooked/underrated skill when one pursues an internship. Building a network is crucial and will help you get ahead / accelerate in your life. Having people who can get you in touch of companies or even people who share valuable information, could be in terms of knowledge, experience, skills,.. is a great way to learn extra everyday as you are doing an internship and this is free-of-cost! I remember when I learnt a lot on how to communicate effectively as well as how to be a team leader and manage people just by frequent talks with my boss as an intern.

Understand that the time you spend at an internship is to build your awareness of the organization and skills within your work area. There are so many ways to make this time effective for your next step. Be sure to 1. volunteer in as many areas of interest as allowed, 2. meet company leaders in various areas of the organization and make sure they know where you plan to go and how you plan on using the time in this internship, ask about their career journey 3. make sure you obtain contact information for leaders you met and permission to reach out with questions; 4. Stay connected to as many of the other interns you met and organization leaders with quarterly outreach of your activities or to say hello, to ask questions.