6 things you totally should do at the end of your summer internship

How you go out is just as important as how you come in. Pay close attention, these are the things you should do at the end of your summer internship.

David Ford

Professional Counseling, Higher Education Professional with experience in Student Affairs and Academic Affairs

So your summer internship is drawing to a close. You’ve hurdled challenge after challenge, dodged every obstacle, and now nothing but wide open holiday lies ahead of you. Well, not quite yet. Like a gymnast sticking the dismount, there’s still time to either undo all your good work or go out with one final flourish.

On an internship, it’s important you do the latter. Why do you think bands save their best songs for the end of the show. This is how you’ll be remembered. Your signature. Your calling card. So, make sure you do the right thing, and peep these 6 tips on how to close your summer internship with a bang.

Help with the handover

Like an outgoing head of state or a student at the end of their lease, you have to leave things in a better condition than you found them. When you know your time is winding to a close, make an effort to finish your open projects and tie up any loose ends. If you can, liaise with the next intern and give them the lowdown. This is will absolutely leave a good, lasting impression.

Update your CV

It’s time to put those points up on the scoreboard. Because what’s the point of doing a summer internship if you don’t get a story out of it? Update your CV (and your LinkedIn) with all the new skills you picked up along the course of your internship. Once you do that, you can frame a narrative of how you got closer to your career goals.

Build on your skills

Speaking of skills, what you absolutely shouldn’t do is forget about what you’ve learned over the course of your summer internship. Take what you’ve learned and build on it. If you were introduced to any concepts that you don’t understand, be to seek out more information, whether online or from books. If you had to learn digital skills such as coding, find a way to further that knowledge while at home. You’re not in uni anymore, but the learning never stops.

Get feedback

Listen and listen close. Doing ? a summer ? internship ? means ? nothing ? without ? feedback ?. How are you going to get better otherwise? Be sure to grab hold of your manager before you leave and have them tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are. Most companies will ask you what you thought of them after you finish working there. You have every single right to turn it around on them.

RELATED: At Debut, we believe that it should be compulsory to give people feedback after an interview. Do you? Find out more.

Stay connected

Along the same lines, not networking on your internship will make for an absolute disaster when you look back on it. Be sure to thank your manager and everyone who helped you over the course of your stay at the company. Most importantly, be sure to get the numbers or email addresses of all your nice colleagues. You never know, a connection you make now might just lead to a job in the future.

Start applying for your next internship

Time and tide waits for nobody. When it becomes clear that your summer internship is coming to an end and you aren’t about to get a permanent position, get your search on. Generally speaking, it’s much easier to get a job when you already have one. The same goes for internships. Wait until you’re already finished and their could be a long gap in between opportunities. Your next adventure us out there. You just have to go find it.

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