Lessons From 15+ Coffee Chats This Summer

Today, internship has grown to become a summer staple for many college students. As a millennial entering his last year, I have always told underclassmen that you learn and grow exponentially each summer with every new person you meet. For me, this summer also marked the last internship that I will be doing for my undergraduate career. What is one advice I would give to current and future interns?

Relationship is Social Currency

Build relationships and learn while you can. The whole notion of reaching out to people and having a lunch and coffee chat is still considered taboo. Here's my observation so far: people are generally generous in spending their time with interns and college students.

I experienced this first hand this summer. The response to all fifteen or so of my outreach emails? No shaming, just plenty of positivity and willingness to help. This was the opportunity of a lifetime where I got to meet with people I have read and followed online. It might have taken several tries to schedule some chats, but that never stopped me from making them happen. 

Stories That I Will Remember Beyond This Summer

Entering these chats, I had one simple goal in mind: be a sponge, listen, absorb, and learn. Some of the people I met were considered thought leaders in their respective field, particularly marketing. Having had over fifteen chats so far, I can easily say that each person had their own unique story to share and advice to give. Listing out every single conversation would take several lengthy posts. I can't do every conversation its justice, but here's a glance of the stories and advice that I received with the caveat that they all came with every person's unique experience.

• Purpose in Life: find what drives you. That drive could be anything: starting your own business, moving up to your dream job, or even starting a family. That purpose will serve as the compass for your career, allowing you to come to work every morning knowing that there is something bigger that you are aiming for than just short term payouts, i.e. a salary.
• Good Managers: find the right manager who can also be your mentor for the first few years of your career. Having the right manager/mentor hybrid who believes and invests in you can make a huge difference when you are young. Be a sponge and learn away during those first couple of years.
• Career Mobility: take initiatives and go beyond your role. While entry level positions can be very specialized, taking the initiative to find new responsibilities outside of your role will not only allow you to learn new skills but also get you noticed by the people around you.
• Career Success: soft skills such as communication, culture integration, and teamwork tend to be overlooked. Being able to communicate and collaborate cross functionally will make you a valuable team member and leader. Soft skills paired with domain knowledge is a strong asset to have in a rapidly globalizing and diversified workplace. 
• Building Relationships: make it a goal to meet at least one new person and follow up with one existing connection every week. It's easy to get tied up with work and forget the people around you, including mentors, colleagues, family, and friends. Make it an effort to develop new relationships and continue nurture the existing ones.

How I Did It

Reaching out and meeting up with people who were much more experienced than me was not an easy task to do at first. It wasn't until mid-June that I realized an internship should be much more than just a summer job. It is about the people you meet and create bonds with. I can assure you that people generally want you to succeed if you take the initiative to reach out.

For starters, I relied on my alumni network at UC Berkeley—Haas School of Business. Your alumni network is a great initial resource. Immediately, you are able to find common ground with alumni simply by the fact that you both are from the same school. And guess what? Alumni tend to be very friendly and willing to give back to younger students. Beyond relying on my alumni network, I also leveraged LinkedIn's Alumni Finder to discover alumni outside of the school's alumni network directory. Hint: this tool should be every soon-to-be graduate's best friend for this upcoming school year. The tool allows you to drill down and find alumni based on their job function, current company, and other useful filters.

Beyond my alumni network and LinkedIn contacts, my current managers also played an instrumental role in introducing me to individuals that I wanted to meet this summer. I made it a priority this summer to meet as many new people as possible. A great starting point is to communicate this priority with your manager. Great managers will understand the importance of networking and make this happen for you. Without their support, I would not have had the opportunity to meet with several amazing people outside of my alumni network.

And don't forget that there are also many people worth meeting outside of your summer internship. So far this summer, I have connected and met with several incredible people who have inspired me with their work, including a fellow alumni who currently work at LinkedIn and a Forbes contributor and also former CMO. Great people who can impact your career can be found anywhere in today's digital age. Take the initiative to find them and reach out.

Takeaways

There is so much more to gain from a summer internship than just listing a company's name and summer projects that you did on a resume. Doing an internship has always been about preparing students for the real world. In the real world, relationships matter.

Don't forget to give back and acknowledge your gratitude to people who spent time with you. As I discovered the generosity of my alumni network this summer, I also realized the importance of giving back. Don't forget to help that one intern who may reach out in the future once you are a few years into your career. At the same time, don't forget to acknowledge people who have made time for you. Time is finite and when people spend time with you, appreciate it and let them know how much their mentorship means to you.

Thank You & Parting Thoughts

Before ending, I'd like to thank everyone who have made time for me one way or another this summer. This experience has by far been the highlight of my summer. Many thanks and gratitude to my Berkeley-Haas alumni (Go Bears!), amazing mentors, and everyone else who spent time mentoring me this summer.

Interns, it is never too late to start reaching out. It's still the midway point of the summer, so get out there and network because your internship is beyond summer projects. From one intern to another, good luck with building relationships and enjoy the rest of the summer!

What are your thought on millennials building relationship while they are young? What are other advice you would give to current and future interns? Comment below.

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Tai Tran writes as a millennial voice on marketing, millennials, and thought leadership, and academia. Tai is also a LinkedIn Top Voice and Forbes 30 Under 30 in Marketing & Advertising. He teaches marketing and digital publishing at UC Berkeley.

Enjoyed this piece? Follow Tai on Forbes, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Reach out and subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Like what you read? Share, like, and comment.  This post also appeared on Forbes. All opinions expressed are my own and they do not reflect the opinions of any of my current organizations. #StudentVoices