Summer Internships – Why They Matter

Summer internships were a crucial part of my early career development, helping me figure out the subject matter, environment and lifestyle I was prepared to sign up for. Ever ambitious, I took on a lot of them. I started early with a high school summer internship at Fox Broadcasting in L.A., counterprogramming NBC’s airing of the Summer Olympics. (This was a big deal when there were only four TV networks.) The following summer, I worked as a reporter at Bloomberg in New York, covering local politics and writing one to two stories per day. Next came NBC News in L.A., where I shadowed a nightly news producer at the time of the OJ Simpson trial. In the second half of college, I turned my attention to investment banking and spent two summers working full-throttle in mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, first at Bear Stearns and then at Allen & Co.

I took these internships seriously. I wanted to vet my career shortlist so I could make an educated and confident decision when the time came to choose a full-time path. That’s the purpose of the summer internship – a low-risk way to evaluate industries and burn five weeks, rather than five years, trying something out and getting an inside look at the whole package.

Career choice isn’t just about the job and compensation; it’s also about the intellectual stimulation, work-life balance and the culture of a company. My early internships revealed that, despite my enthusiasm for journalism, I didn’t actually want a career as a reporter. My finance industry internships made me realize that I wanted to be in a more meritocratic, transparent and dynamic culture long-term, and have a better lifestyle than the finance industry allows.

How do you get the most out of your summer internship? Here’s my advice:

• Be the first in and the last to leave. Just because your other intern friends are leaving at 3 p.m. doesn’t mean you should, too. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a life, but prioritize your internship for those few weeks. Work your tail off.
• Go above and beyond. Satisfy and delight your manager with your great work ethic and results, and if they run out of things for you to do, ask for permission to reach out to other teams who are doing interesting things. Try to get more exposure with more people and make a bigger mark during your time there.
• Fit into the culture. Sometimes that means language, other times that means your wardrobe. I can attest to the importance of this, as on my first day of an investment banking internship back in the 90s, I wore suspenders. It was a coat and tie culture, but the suspenders were too far – even if they wore them in the movies. My manager discreetly informed me of my faux pas, and for my going away present I received a pair of silk suspenders… which I still have to this day.
• Walk the line between eager and sycophantic. Realize that even if you think you’re being helpful, 90 percent of interns detract from projects rather than add value because they take so much time getting up to speed. Ask questions and find ways to contribute, but be sensitive to body language and the cues you’re getting from your manager. Don’t smother them with enthusiasm.
• Don’t forget HR! At most companies, job offer decisions are a blend of the HR business partners, the recruiters who got you there and the hiring manager. Make sure to work all angles, as everyone is involved in the process of converting an internship into a full-time role.
• Study the rising stars. Make a list of the people crushing it at that company and learn how they’ve built their careers. Try to get time with them to understand their experience and how it relates to your ambitions. This will help you learn whether the company has a rigid career ladder with predictable advancement or a career jungle gym where you can make your own path.

This year we have more than 50 interns across our eight Zillow Group offices, including Seattle, San Francisco and New York. From engineering to marketing, these individuals tackle real work; they’re not just here to fetch coffee and put “Zillow Group” on their resumes. Said one intern, “The best part of my Zillow internship was that I was added to the development of the Zillow Digs product as a real, contributing member and not separated from the actual development.” You can read more perspectives from our interns here and here.