It’s the First Week of My Internship, Now What?

First off, congratulations on landing your internship! You did a lot to get to this point, so I hope you took some time to applaud yourself and celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. It’s a great opportunity to gain experience, network, work on projects, and get exposure to an industry of your choice.

Now the real fun begins.

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You’re about to start your first week at the company you’ve been wanting to work at for a long time. The nerves are here. Sheer excitement turns into uncertainty and eventually anxiety. Questions are coming in droves:

“What’s the company culture like?”

“How will I fit in?”

“Am I even good enough to be at this company?”

“I’ve never done this before, so what can I expect from this internship?”

“Do they even have good burgers?”

Okay, the last question is irrelevant unless you’ve never been to In-n-Out Burgers. Don’t worry, these questions are typical. The first, and perhaps the hardest, assignment you have to complete is defeating the doubt that’s in your mind. Once you do that, you’ll be fine.

Having questions before your first week is normal. You’re trying to figure out how you can make this the best experience possible. You don’t want this to be a “go fetch me a coffee” type of internship and it shouldn’t be. Establishing yourself early in the first week of your internship is a great way to answer those burning questions you have.

As someone who’s just finished his sixth week of his summer internship, I feel comfortable enough to share some of the methods I’ve learned in this short time that has allowed me to get off to a hot start and have a very positive outlook on the rest of my summer:

MAKE SURE WHAT THE EXPECTATIONS ARE

???????????????Establishing expectations in the first week is vital. As an independent consultant, I’ve had to meet with managers and founders on projects to understand what the expectations were and how I can meet them. This has taught me to communicate how I can bring value as well as gain a realistic picture of what I can do and can’t do on a project.

???????????????When the expectations are known, you can allocate and manage your time toward higher priority tasks. Throughout the week, talk about your progress and see if your outcomes are meeting expectations. The biggest part of meeting expectations is communication. Establish a good line of communication early on and you’ll meet those expectations in no time.

TAKE GREAT NOTES

???????????????Only you know what your “great” looks like. This may seem subjective, but your team will appreciate you if you take great notes. You’re trying to understand more about the company, so taking great notes is huge. This unlocks curiosity, leading to questions you may not have even thought about. People love to see when a young person is curious.

ASK QUESTIONS

???????????????Please, and I mean please, DO NOT be afraid to ask questions. Questions are the key to your answers. They’re great points of conversation as well. Being able to be at a company where the employee has the space to talk and ask questions without judgement is something you need to ask before you even work for them.

???????????????It’s not just about the questions, but the quality of questions. Here’s a framework that I came up with to form good questions:

???????????????Relevance – Is the question relevant to you and/or the team you’re working with?

???????????????Opportunity – Does the question give you or the team an opportunity to look into your work and drive better results from it?

???????????????Insight – Does the question give you more insight into how to do your job better?

???????????????Make sure your questions meet the ROI criteria. You never know, they may lead to higher ROI for the company (no pun intended.)

???????????????Ask as many questions as you can to get to your desired outcome, but if you can ask less questions and get to the same outcome, then why not? The ROI framework can help you figure out what questions are quality and which ones are “filler” questions.

???????????????And don’t be afraid of “looking dumb.” Most people don’t ask questions when they know they should. Your questions could be an insight into something the team hasn’t thought of before. You don’t want to just be a number. Be someone that is bringing something different to the table.

COMMUNICATE

???????????????Communicate like you breathe. Make it automatic to where you don’t think about doing it. Communication is a foundational skill that will carry you far if you make it a priority.

???????????????One thing I’m learning right now is that it’s okay to overcommunicate. There are many tools out there for communication that you should get familiar with. The company will likely have their own set of tools but tools such as Slack can help. Learning to communicate well through multiple channels is a superpower, especially in today’s world.

GROW YOUR NETWORK

???????????????In your first week, challenge yourself to start meeting different people within your company. Go outside of the people on your team and expand. You may even work with those same people during the internship. Whenever you meet them, get an idea of what they do and ask if there’s any way you can help them at their job and in turn create value for the customers.

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CONSUME CONTENT ABOUT THE COMPANY

???????????????Throughout the summer, be a sponge. Learn as much as you can about the company, especially the information that they give you about the company. Information is like water, so soak up as much of it as you can. Check out what videos, articles, and blog posts are available so you can get up to speed on what they’re currently working on. This is a great way for you to see how you fit in the equation.

???????????????The more you learn about the company, the more value you can give. You’ll gain a better understanding of your job and better establish the expectations that the company has for you, and even vocalize your expectations for the internship because you also have a voice in this as well. It’s your internship, so you deserve to express what you want to get out of it.

PLAN YOUR SELF-CARE ROUTINE

???????????????*Cue the subtle eye roll. * I know you’ve probably heard this a lot, but this is the most important tip of all. Your self-care sets the foundation for everything else you’ll do. It could be the difference of getting a project done early and turning it in a day later. Imagine how much work you can do if you sleep at least 8 hours a night?

???????????????You HAVE to make time for this. You can have many jobs, but you only have one life. Make this a priority early on, and your future self will thank you.

???????????????Even though it’s a must, do what works for you. It takes time. It won’t be perfect right away, so you may have to make tweaks along the way. It’s also an opportunity to establish your own workflow, especially if you’re remote. Figuring out your workflow is very important to understand before you pursue full-time employment.

???????????????The great thing about having good self-care is that when you’re at your best, you can help the team be at its best. Energy spreads, so if you have good energy, your team will pick up on that.

In your first week, you want to start off hot and stay there. Force yourself to step out of your comfort zone. The sooner you do it, the better. Show them why they offered you and give them as much value as you can, and even challenge yourself to give more. Add to the company culture, don’t take away from it. This is your opportunity. You deserve it, so make the most of it.