How to convert your internship into full time job – Ever wondered why you were not absorbed into the company during your first-ever internship after graduation? You might have gone wrong on these Chamchagiri tips!
Oh! That feeling when you are selected as the new intern!
Remarkable, isn’t it? So, are you ready to jostle your way to the executive position in three months? As crucial as it is, these three months can be both rocky and motivating at different points.
You may not know but your bosses and even your colleagues (seniors) are interviewing you during this three-month span.
You may come across as gentle and optimistic in the beginning but your optimism will land you with a fixed job in this company only if you have a wide-eyed approach towards your work and organization.
Make sure that the company culture and the work suits you and your interests before getting overjoyed at the prospect of becoming the future employee! If you are keen on taking your relationship with the company further, you must make it a point to tell this to your employers probably during the interview. Your knowledge and information about the company will also take you a long way in becoming ‘one of them’, if you already see yourself as a part of the company.
You might have taken up this internship for an extra source of income or to gain some first-hand experience and this might be the first step towards reaching your career goal or to complete your course and get a degree. Whatever the reason might be, you will need to boost up your career and a mere internship will not do that for you.
When you plan to rise from a carefree intern who is still in the learning mode to a steady, responsible employee, you ought to know these tips to bag the position you desire in the company:
Chamchagiri Tip#1: Stay Alert and Learn More about Company Workings
Take a note of your surroundings. Learn the minute details of how the company functions. Enquire about basic policies and work fundas (but do not ask questions not directly related to you or your work) as you are anyway an intern and are not expected to know everything about the work assigned to you. Do not cover up your mistakes or react adversely to them. Be positive and confident about your abilities and know that your mistake may not be as bad as your way of reaction to the mistake. This way you will learn accepting your faults and moving ahead in your career and employers will not hold a grudge against you. Internship is the best time to learn the work and the way it is done. Act like a sponge and not as an eavesdropper in the gossips and politics that the job entails, as tempting as they may be!
Chamchagiri Tip#2: Track, Update and Prove
It is time to document your tasks in the company in an excel spreadsheet which will spread the word later as to what your goals have been during the internship and how you have fulfilled them. The record of your tasks would also be a proof of your credibility and organized efforts towards your work assignments. This will also encourage you to keep on adding value to the company and to your career as well by making the list of your accomplishments longer throughout your internship period. Also imagine this data to be a part of your resume. Your CV will be better equipped for making a mark in your future job choices.
Chamchagiri Tip#3: Portray yourself as already Hired
Though you need to socialise with your colleagues and may even have to do some small talk during lunch hour or while waiting for your turn at the coffee machine, do not go overboard. Be cordial and show your pleasing personality to the people in the company. Join meet-ups or team meetings and social events/picnics with your colleagues, thus giving an impression to everyone in the company that you are here to stay. These little efforts from your end will surely go a long way in building relationships where others will be as pleased as you if and when you give them the news of your full-time employment in the company.
Chamchagiri Tip#4: Accommodate more Assignments
Meeting deadlines and being punctual at your work should be your first lookout as you start interning with a company. This will ensue that you are enthusiastic about you work and may land you with more assignments. As obvious it is, more the assignments, more the employers’ trust in you. Interacting with colleagues, asking about the projects they are working on and lending them some help if they need, will show that you are interested in accepting any and all assignments as your own. You will then also be known for taking initiatives and your colleagues might consider looking up to work with you in the near future.
Chamchagiri Tip#5: Believe in Constructive Criticism
Accept criticism of your work if at all your employers want you to apply a different working technique or are not completely satisfied with your job. Be open to suggestions and varying work assignments so that you achieve better work skills and are able to judge your strengths and weaknesses more efficiently.
Chamchagiri Tip#6: Say Yes To Work
The best way to earn brownie points in your career and be in the good books of your employers is to volunteer for work, even without them asking you to take up the task. You can ask for work, especially if you want to be of some aid in a project or have a new idea about executing existing projects. You can learn much through observing the work patterns and styles of your fellow colleagues and choose assignments that will give you the opportunity to work with employees in different departments or people whose working style inspires you. This is the time when you should work on your abilities as well as incorporate the best professional qualities of others in you.
Chamchagiri Tip#7: Stay up-to-date and prepared
You should always show good professional etiquettes and be ready with pen and paper to jot down any necessary detail. You must be aware and alert of how things are moving on with the company and if any new projects are a part of the company’s agenda. Your enthusiasm in the workings of the company will make your employers know that you are looking at your stint with the company as more of a job opportunity than a three-month vacation at a workplace.
Chamchagiri Tip#8: Add your employers and colleagues on your FB friend list and follow them on Twitter
You can learn a lot from your employers especially whom you admire and can reach out to them at a cup of coffee or over Skype. Make yourself more accessible to the person by sending friend requests in social media networks and liking, sharing or commenting on their blog posts, et al. You can also send follow-up mails or leave a message on Facebook or Skype if you do not get an immediate response.
Chamchagiri Tip#9: Improve Your Online Appearance
By choosing to complete your LinkedIn profile and showing your capability at working with new technologies and less common social media networks to your employers probably during your interview, you are bound to enhance your online portfolio. This will also be a plus when they consider your candidature for a permanent job in the organization.
Chamchagiri Tip#10: Make Yourself Indispensable for the Company
Regularly updating the company database and becoming adept at using the latest Adobe Premier Pro or Photoshop versions will give you an upper hand among other interns or prospective employees as you might then have the ability to ease out the points where the company lacks. You might be a win-win case for the employers then who will consider you a better candidate as you have adapted to the company culture and you need not be trained, unlike others. You can also explore freelancing for some time along with your internship as you will then get to know about the work of different industries and may even offer to help the company you are interning with using some of those ideas.
Your blog posts and detailed experience of events and festivals you have attended or some of your creative, personal projects can also make you shine with flying colours in the company.
However, as your internship period draws close, you need to consider if this is the place you can fit yourself in and work comfortably before rushing in on the job offer. While you plan to schedule your meeting with the bosses about your status in the company after internship, you must not forget bringing along your list of work goals and accomplishments in the company. Keep your relationships intact with the colleagues by keeping in touch on LinkedIn or social media networking sites. You must also not try and negotiate your salary comparing it to those of similar job profiles in other companies.
So, have you had to go through a long list of internships before you finally landed up with a full-time venture? Share your internship experiences in the comment box below.
