Introduction
Internships are life-changing experiences that provide you with a multitude of skills vital to your professional development. They are more than simply a stepping stone into the working world. Internships provide priceless chances to build hard and soft skillsets, whether you are a student trying to improve your resume or a recent graduate ready to dive into the real world professionally. To me, the essential skills you should learn during an internship and how they might influence your career in the future are:
1. Communication
2. Interpersonal
3. Time Management
Communication Skills
When becoming an intern at any company within any industry, a big skill set that you will gain is communication skills. Let’s start with written communication. Through an internship, mentors and the experience as a whole will guide you down the path of sounding more professional when drafting emails, reports, and any other important documents. With internships improving your written communication skills reaps many benefits:
Has a positive impact on how people view you - “I remember that intern! They always sent me an email weekly for feedback and any next steps.”
With verbal communication, internships help improve your ability to articulate any new ideas you form clearly and confidently in meetings. Building your verbal communication through an internship allows you to seem professional, competent, and well-informed to your superiors and peers.
Interpersonal Skills
Another skill set an internship will help you gain is interpersonal skills. The impersonal skill I will be touching on is teamwork. Everyone knows that when accepting an internship, you are not the only intern the company has hired. There were many applicants chosen who may have different viewpoints than you. The point of this experience is to learn how to collaborate effectively with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and with varying skill sets. Internships help you learn how to professionally disagree with others and then find a common solution that will generate the best outcome for the project.
Time Management Skills
The last skill set I will mention is time management. An internship, like college, trains you to improve your time management skills and determine what tasks and assignments need to be completed now and what can be done later. Let’s try this, order these tasks from most urgent to least urgent:
1. The company wants you to research the current trends in the market - Deadline: 3 days
2. The company wants you to prepare a presentation of your final learnings from the internship as a whole - Deadline: End of internship
3. The company wants you to draft a possible email to send to a new target segment - Deadline: 4 days
The correct order to manage your time would be to complete the tasks that have the earliest deadline. It is easy to complete tasks that may seem easier to you, such as drafting an email, but an internship will help you understand that it is important to focus your time on a task that your mentor is asking for sooner rather than later.
Conclusion
These skills are not only essential for your immediate role but also lay the groundwork for long-term career development. They enable you to navigate complex work environments, build meaningful professional relationships, and maintain productivity amidst competing demands. As you continue to grow in your career, the communication, interpersonal, and time management skills gained through internships will remain pivotal to your success. Embrace the opportunities presented during your internship, and you'll find yourself well-prepared for the challenges and achievements that lie ahead.
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