What Can An Intern Bring To the Table?
Three kinds of people would click on this article:
- A fresh team lead trying to find what kind of intern he/she should recruit
- University students looking for an internship
- An intern working miserably or looking forward to converting to full-time
But anyhow, what matters is that you wish to know what more can an intern do, and that’s what I am about to share.
Being an intern is a crucial part of any college graduate’s career. You are there to learn what a desk jockey’s life is like. You get a taste of the reality while working with a lower wage and less responsibility.
That was my thought before joining GoFreight and maybe your thought as well. I thought I was there to learn and perhaps bring my talent to GoFreight. However, there are two questions we might not see here:
- Why should a company pay you to learn?
- What talent may you have as a student or fresh-grad?
With these two questions in mind, you need to start thinking:
What can an intern bring to the table?
Here are my thoughts now:
- Enthusiastic
- Pro-activeness
- Ambitious
- Potential
As an intern, we are not hired to do something important, because they have other employees with more experience that can get things better and faster than you. Even if they do fail the job, they will need to take up the responsibility which may cost them their job. As a student, responsibility at work won’t motivate us.
Therefore, we will start with some easy and tedious job that needs to be done but isn’t valuable enough to have a full-time do it. This gives us the conclusion, that it’s not about the task!
It was never about the task being done!
Being an intern is always about showing your personality and potential. Starting with being enthusiastic!
I remember when I got familiar with my intern’s daily tasks, I started wondering:
- How can I help others?
- How can I help the team do better?
Then I started optimizing the process of the intern’s daily task. Since my goal isn’t just to make my life better, but to help the team improve. If I get to accomplish such a goal, there are possibilities of receiving other higher-level tasks.
Think of it as playing a video game, won’t your team rank up faster and go up against stronger villains when you are not far better than your teammates but your whole team is as good as you are? This is why you should show that you care about your colleagues and care about the team, and be the person to whom people say “Thank god you are here”.
Imagine you went out to buy something at a fair price, let’s say $100. Suppose you expect this thing to have a value of $100.
Then when you start using it, you find out that it can achieve more than you expected, allowing it to increase its value. Which means it values more than $100 for you.
Now remember that kind of feeling, because that is the kind of feeling you should be able to provide to your boss.
Make yourself more valuable than your salary!
You might ask, how can you do that? My answer is to be proactive and ambitious!
Remember in the last paragraph, I mentioned, it’s never about the task because what they originally assigned you isn’t important. However, when you accomplish what you were told to do, and then ask for more, you are increasing your value. By more, I mean something deeper and more organized, not just the same work but more loading.
You need to show the value that you are worth more. Therefore ask for more and never be satisfied with what you have. Just remember, measure your ability beforehand, there is no one else in the world who knows YOU better than yourself.You need to show the value that you are worth more. Therefore ask for more and never be satisfied with what you have. Just remember, measure your ability beforehand, there are no one else in the world that knows YOU better than yourself.
Giannis Antetokounmpo ( MVP x2, NBA Champ & Finals MVP 2021):
“Always ask for more but never be greedy!”
Did Jordan know he would end up being the G.O.A.T?
Did Sonny Vaccaro know that when he signed Jordan for Nike?
I don’t think so!
But why is that? Because Jordan has the potential and Sonny saw it. Then Jordan lives up to his potential and even beyond! That is the key point! Everyone has their potential, it is just up to us if we would bust up our ass to reach that level. This is also the reason we often hear that someone was a bust or a waste of talent.
Therefore, same idea here as an intern. When you were recruited, the manager must have seen something in you, and your job is to realize how high your potential is and then live up to it! Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if you failed to do something you knew you could have easily achieved?
Find your potential and live up to it! At least, fake it until you make it!
To conclude, it was never easy to keep on grinding and work your ass up the whole time. However, if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this article, then keep this in mind:
“When I first arrived, I dominated! They thought I worked 100 hours a day. Now, no matter what time I get in the office, nobody questions my ability to get the job done. First impressions last!”
- Harvey Specter
In essence, being an intern transcends mere task completion; it’s about embodying qualities that elevate both oneself and the team. Enthusiasm, pro-activeness, ambition, and realizing one’s potential are the true assets interns bring to the table. While initially assigned menial tasks, interns have the opportunity to showcase their worth by optimizing processes and consistently striving for improvement.
By understanding their value and continuously exceeding expectations, interns can reshape their roles and make indispensable contributions. As Harvey Specter from Suits aptly put it, “First impressions last!” So, seize every opportunity, demonstrate your potential, and leave a lasting impact.
To add some credibility to this article, I would like to share a bit about myself.
My name is Jeffrey, a Customer Success Manager at GoFreight. I used to be an intern at GoFreight for 14 months and was converted to a full-time Customer Success Specialist before graduating from university. I worked with smaller-tier customers for a year and then got promoted to Customer Success Manager. Right now, I handle more than 30 top-tier accounts with an ARR of over a million and am on my way to becoming the best CSM the city has ever seen.
Contact info: LinkedIn
