6 Unexpected Lessons Your Internship Will Teach You

By Victoria Robertson on January 28, 2015

This article is brought to you by Dream Careers, the largest global internship program for college students offering all-inclusive programs in 11 cities worldwide. To learn more about Dream Careers, please visit us at SummerInternships.com.

As college students, internships are a major part of our lives. We need them to obtain jobs in the future, as everyone nowadays is talking about “experience,” and so getting this experience while still in college is the perfect way to give yourself that extra edge.

Don’t believe me? Here are six lessons your internship teaches you.

1. Whether or not this job is for you:

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Without first pursuing an internship, it’s hard to know how good you’ll be at your job, let alone if you’ll like it or not. More often than not, college grads don’t actually have a whole lot of experience in their field of study, leaving the question as to whether or not they’ll actually like that job up in the air.

With an internship backing you up, this is no longer a problem. Internships are mostly designed to give you a gateway into what you could potentially be doing should you continue down this career path. So if you’re questioning whether or not it’s for you, pick up an internship. You’ll find out really soon if it’s even something worth pursuing.

2. Career time schedules:

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I know that many of you are on a college student’s schedule, which basically means that you wake up 10 minutes before class, try not to schedule anything before 11 a.m. and take frequent naps throughout the day.

This doesn’t fly in the “real world.”

If nothing else, some internships can teach you to keep an adult schedule suitable for that future career. So if you aren’t used to getting up at 6 a.m., brace yourself. Your internship will show you exactly what time schedule you need to keep while working that full-time job.

3. How to finish an assignment:

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No, I’m not talking about that term paper you’ve been dreading since day one of classes and that you won’t even start until the night before. Instead, I’m talking about an assignment related to your field of study: one that doesn’t count for a grade, but is necessary for you to keep your job, without procrastination.

When given an assignment at work, it’s important to repeat the assignment to your supervisor after they’ve given it to you, just to make sure that you understand the assignment and to give your higher up the opportunity to add anything they think you are missing.

In a less stressful situation, such as in an internship, this is the best practice you can get as far as learning how to complete work tasks goes.

4. How to write an effective e-mail:

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Writing an e-mail may not sound like the most complicated task in the world. However, writing one professionally and effectively is something you can learn in your internship.

Even for students that aren’t studying English or journalism, writing is going to be a main component of your work, no matter where you are. Mathematicians have to write e-mails every now and again too, so developing these basic skills in a professional setting will only help you in your future endeavors.

5. The importance of networking:

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We went through high school waiting for the days when popularity wasn’t so important. The bad news: it still kind of matters.

Networking is basically just a fancy word for meeting people that can potentially help you in the future. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should be selfish in these relationships, but that you should use your experience to the fullest, as the people you are working with now are potential recommendations down the road.

Basically, don’t just skate on through your internship: make the most of it and be sure to make relationships with people along the way.

6. How to ask the “right” questions:

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While asking questions will always help you in your internship, asking too many questions might just have the opposite effect.

If you are ever confused about a task, it is perfectly fine to ask a question. In fact, this is much better than messing it up because you were afraid to ask the question in the first place.

However, don’t repeatedly ask questions about a task that’s been explained to you several times. By this point, you should know what you are supposed to be doing.

Internships can help you differentiate between when it’s time to ask a question and when it isn’t an appropriate time.

While there are a million unexpected lessons you can learn by participating in your internship, these are just a few of my favorite.

So if you aren’t sure whether or not you want to pick up that internship, I promise you, it’s worth it.

Looking for a top internship in an exciting city? Enroll in Dream Careers and guarantee yourself an internship and a fun summer in your choice of 11 cities globally. To visit our website, please click here.

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