How to Answer to Future Expectations in a Company After an Internship

Show enthusiasm for channelling your newfound skills into a paid position.

Many companies extend full-time job offers to their interns. If you want such a full-time job, let your company know what you can do for it. Summarize what you’ve accomplished and show enthusiasm for carrying these accomplishments over into a paid position.

Instructions

1. Review your pre-internship goals. Read over the material given to you by the organization when you started your internship. Focus on the goals and expectations spelled out by your employer and conduct an honest self-assessment of which goals you’ve met, exceeded and failed to meet. Review these goals prior to any post-internship debrief that your employer might schedule so that you’re best prepared to discuss how the internship went.

2. Compile a portfolio. Collect all of the projects you’ve completed solely or contributed significantly to during your internship, such as reports, policies or presentations. Include a brief synopsis alongside each project indicating its purpose and intended audience (for example, internal corporate material or external material for clients, customers or stakeholders.) This portfolio will demonstrate your understanding of the work you’ve done. Bring the portfolio to your post-internship debrief or interview with the organization. The portfolio can also be shown to other prospective employers as long as it doesn’t reveal proprietary or confidential information about the organization.

3. Update your resume with the skills you’ve learned and the projects you’ve spearheaded during your internship. Reviewing these accomplishments will give you the confidence you’ll need to go after a staff position in the company or another organization.

4. Be proactive. If your employer doesn’t approach you for a meeting or debrief at the end of your internship, ask for one. Show an interest in getting feedback from the employer on how you did during the course of your internship. If the organization doesn’t extend a job offer to you and there aren’t any job postings you could apply for, convey your interest in future employment with your direct supervisor as well as human resources.

5. Maintain your quality of work. If you land an offer of employment from the company immediately following your internship, you might be tempted to slack off and relax, especially if you’ve gone the extra mile in proving yourself during the internship. Your overall quality of work shouldn’t waver after you’ve landed a paid position. When organizations need to downsize, the last person hired is often the first person fired, and a major decline in your work performance could easily justify a layoff.

References

• CNNMoney: Get Hired After an Internship -- Even with a Tattoo
• Internships.com: Evaluating What You Learned
• The National Association of Colleges and Employers: 2011 Internship & Co-op Survey Research Brief