How to Turn Your Internship Into Your First Full Time Job: Advice for College Students

College career counselors cover your ears! As a former undergraduate career counselor myself, it was cardinal rule not to promise students that the company they interned for would offer return into a full time position upon graduation. While I am not making any promises here, as a counselor turned current employer of college interns, I can give you advice on how to increase your chances of being hired permanently by a company you intern for. The advice comes in the form of three simple rules:
1. ALWAYS OFFER INPUT.
One of the biggest mistakes college interns make is not speaking up enough! It is natural to feel a sense of intimidation when beginning an internship. You may feel at first like you aren’t familiar enough with your job or the company to really speak your opinion and offer ideas. However, it is important to remember that internships are competitive and you the student were hired for a reason. Not only did the employer feel you could accomplish the tasks involved, but chances are they also felt you could contribute to the organization in a meaningful way in a short period of time. So take advantage of the time you have. No matter how small the comment appears to you, make sure to say something intelligent in every meeting. Don’t just bring up problems and issues you are experiencing. Bring them up, but offer your own ideas and solutions. This will position you to be viewed by members of the organization as intelligent and insightful. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. It will not show ineptness, just interest and a desire to succeed!
2. CONNECT. CONNECT. CONNECT.
Another mistake student interns tend to make while working is not making the most of the people you meet or could meet! Again, it could be intimidating as an intern to reach out to other people in your organization besides your supervisor. You might feel like they think of you as “just the intern.” However, as more and more companies are seeing the value in bringing aboard fresh talent through college intern programs, company attitudes towards students are changing and the old cliché of the intern ONLY being present to make copies and get coffee is starting to disappear. Don’t get me wrong. You may still be asked to make copies and get coffee, but why not make contacts that could potentially help your future career along the way? Volunteer to run errands to other departments. Ask your supervisor about shadowing someone else in the company whose work you find interesting for an hour or a day. If there is a big company meeting, ask to sit in and even be introduced if only for a few minutes. And most of all, be personable to everyone you meet! Share outside activities you are involved in. Talk about classes you took. Ask about people’s positions. Over half of people’s impressions of you will be based on personal interactions and not solely what you contribute work wise. So simply stated, be friendly and be professional. You never know when a full time position might come up in the department of a person you made those copies for. Make sure they know who you are.
3. FOLLOW THROUGH.
The last area students tend to miss is keeping the connection with their company and/or supervisor alive once they leave their internship. Many times students participate in internships in their junior year of college and once complete, think of it as a closed process. In actuality, you should think of the internship as only a start in the process of finding a full time position. Keep in contact with your supervisor and/or other organization members you made with connection with during your internship. Depending on the nature of your relationship with those people, check in every few months. Let them know how classes are going and that you are looking forward to graduation. Ask them for feedback or details on an industry related conference you are interested in attending. This will help keep you in the forefront of the employers mind. This way, when it comes time for graduation, if they have a suitable position open, they will know you may be interested. There is no need to be pushy or ask about job openings in every interaction you have. But you can be connected and aggressive. Business professionals do it all the time!
If you follow these rules, are you guaranteed to be offered a full time position by a company you intern for? Absolutely not. But speaking from experience, you are guaranteed to ensure you present yourself in the best possible light while interning. At CVS/pharmacy in the Management Development Intern program I run, we seek students who exhibit the above qualities and view them as valuable members of our organization. And those students who can really demonstrate a drive to succeed very often receive an offer to return in a full time capacity after graduation.