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6 Tips to Turn an Internship into a Job

So, you’re interning this summer.

But as great as that looks on your resume, you’re ready for a full time job. One that pays a real living wage and offers health insurance!

If you’re hoping to turn your internship into a full time job, there are some things you can do to make it happen.

The over arching theme, if you want to make your internship into a full time job, is to be professional and do impressive work.

In short, your job in those three months is to convince your boss that he/she NEEDS you on the team and that if you were to leave, the office would be worse off without you.

Here, our tips on how to do just that:

• Come early, stay late. In short, work hard. Work harder than the people already working there full time.
• Don’t act like an intern. Be responsible, be mature. Don’t talk about the bar crawl you did over the weekend. You want to be seen as an adult member of the staff, act like one.
• Dress the part. Take cues from other people in the office and follow their lead on how to dress.
• Impress your boss. Do this by handing in assignments before they’re asked for, coming up with new ideas, and being proactive in getting things done.
• Find a mentor Find someone in your office who is seasoned, and takes an interest in you, who can help steer you through office politics, let you know when you’re messing up, and come up with ways to impress your boss. This is a great person to bounce things off of before handing them in to your supervisor.
• Let things go. Maybe it’s true that Susie from two cubicles over seems to have it out for you. But while you’re interning and hoping to land a full time job, is not the time to bring it up with your boss. You want to appear to mesh well with the team already in place. So, try to deal with Susie professionally, quietly and on your own.

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