After the Internship

Unfortunately summer is coming to a rapid close.  Back to school has become the current retail season, the days are getting shorter, and it seems like everyone is talking about when they are going to be moving back to school.  Hopefully everyone had a fantastic and productive internship to set them on a more focused course!   

If you have not already started talking with your supervisor and co workers about letters of recommendation, don't hesitate another minute.  If you have a final date for your internship, schedule an exit interview with the person(s) with whom you worked most closely.  This is your opportunity to crow about what you accomplished and how having you in this internship benefited the company.  Take some time to put these accomplishments into a professional presentation, be sure to refresh your resume with these accomplishments too.  Take some time to thank everyone you worked with over the course of the summer, hand written notes are a nice touch that leave a lasting impression.  With your updated resume in hand be sure to check in with the HR department as you check out.  Let them know your graduation date and that you would appreciate being considered for employment.  Keep all avenues of communication open, hopefully you have made some key contacts and built some strong relationships that you will be able to call on in your job search post graduation.

For those of you not headed back to campus, the above applies to you but you need to turn up the intensity of our quest for full time employment.  One intern recently told me some of the best advise she received this summer was from an employee that started as an intern.  The advise?  "Find something that makes you so valuable to the organization they will go out of their way to hire you."  I am sure what was meant   was honest hard work and benefit to the organization and not black mail.  What was your stand out accomplishment and how does it benefit the department or whole organization?  Take some time to package that accomplishment or series of accomplishments into a sales presentation.  This may be your sales pitch into a paid career.