The “Will Your Internship Matter in Future Hiring” Test

The name of the company you intern for is usually much less important than the work product (evidence) you did that you can show me.

College students spend a ton of time optimizing their summer internship experiences for their resumes. The reality is that the internship moves the needle to hire you in two main cases:

1. You Interned at one of LinkedIn’s Top 50 Companies. These companies have name recognition, are tougher to land jobs with and may matter if I’m evaluating you. And if it’s not one of these ~50 companies, then it’s got real niche industry-specific name recognition and we know it was difficult to get and matters. It likely means you got through a competitive process to get hired there, or you’ve got family connections.
2. You created something you can send me to review. Since we discount the company for most internships, that means I’m ultimately looking for some proof of your work product: a legitimate writing sample, a piece of code you wrote and I can review, something you designed, or an event you put on with film-evidence. Remember, it’s got to be *your* work — and something I can judge outside of the company itself.

There are other reasons for internships such as making money, as a feeder to get hired by the company you’re interning for or because you don’t have something better lined up.

Here’s the “Will Your Internship Matter for Future Hiring” test for your internship:

Email your internship manager and ask: “What work product should I expect to have at the end of the summer I can show to future employers.”

The more specific the answer, the more confident you’ll have #2. The less specific, the more likely you’ll have to take matters into your own hands.

And if they don’t respond to your question… well, that’s not a good sign!

Remember, this applies whether or not you have a #1-level internship. You’ll still want to have something to show for your summer regardless.

Okay then what if you don’t have a #1 and/or #2 internship lined up for the summer? What if you’re working somewhere that isn’t prestigious and you’re likely going to be delivering coffees?

Develop a plan to create something demonstrable this summer — meaning make your own version of #2 even if it’s outside of the company context. Here’s some examples:

1. Create a speaker series for the summer. You’re an intern and there are other interns working this summer. Could you create a 6-part series of a topic that interests you? Could you bring in 4 speakers to teach you something? There’s evidence that being able to organize events is a way to stand out to employers.
2. Launch a Podcast Season. Podcasting isn’t likely to get you a ton of listeners (because there aren’t a ton of listeners for most podcasts) but it’s a great way to talk to people you admire, become better at interviewing and develop depth in an area you enjoy. Heck, Seth Godin is doing something super cool for an aspiring podcaster.
3. Write a Book. Writing a book isn’t easy, but it’s a process — something that shows off your thinking, forces you to talk to people smarter than you, and enables you to develop your writing skills. Plus at the end of the process you’ll have a book. And in a little bit of self-promotion, we’re going to be testing out a unique program to help people create a manuscript in the summer aimed at college students and senior high school students. If you want details, you can visit www.Creator.Institute/summer
4. Develop an Article Series. Please do not “launch a blog.” It’s a recipe for failure because launching a blog means if it isn’t active (meaning you stop posting on it) employers may look at it and judge you to say ‘she can’t complete something’. Instead create an X-part article series that shows your ability to offer depth in an area. Yes you can publish it on a blog but it’s done and complete, and people can look at it and say “okay, let me review this series” instead of “why haven’t there been any posts in 3 months?”

Yes internships can be good and can help you stand out. But be clear that they are not the end-all-be-all — especially if you aren’t working at a prestigious one or likely to be creating something that is proof you learned something at the internship.

Make a plan to have some proof of what you did this summer, and then put in place a plan either through your internship or outside of it. Ultimately it’s your responsibility not to spend 3 months with nothing to show for it.

#Create