How to Turn an Internship into a Full-time Job

My career path from intern to President at Anvil Media wasn’t a direct or easy journey. Between graduating college and today, I was fired twice, laid off twice and walked away from two growing startups. Although I’ve run my own digital marketing agency since 2000, I did start out humbly. My first full-time job after graduation was a 3-month internship that paid a whopping $500. I’ve even written an article based on that specific experience, Tips For A Successful Internship From A Former Intern. Since then, I’ve provided career coaching to a broad range of folks ranging from high school students all the way to semi-retirees. I’ve shared some of those insights in this article, 12 Career Tips for Growth-Minded Individuals. I still remember my internships fondly, however, as they created invaluable learning experiences. Based on my personal internship experience, combined with watching our interns learn and grow over the years, I came up with ten tips for new interns looking to turn an internship into a full-time job opportunity.

1.     Do your homework. Before your first day, read your company’s entire website and do research online to learn more about the company history and culture, it’s executive team, services, clients and competitors. Ask for all internal training materials, review all internal documentation outlining required tools and processes and ask tons of questions until you have clarity. As an intern at a digital marketing agency, I specifically recommend reading up on marketing fundamentals, then work backwards into digital and agency business models. Read articles, check out books and attend webinars. These are all relatively low cost and easy ways to get smart and hit the ground running.

2.     Know your place. On the first day of your internship, if not sooner, figure out management’s expectations for you in your role. Review the job description and ask questions until you have complete clarity regarding key elements of your job. Who is my direct manager? How does information flow through the organization? What time should you show up for work? When does everyone typically leave? What tools do I need to know to do my job effectively? What type of training will I receive? Who are the ‘rock stars’ I should get to know better and mentor under? What does success look like for me? How can I stand out in a good way? These are all questions you should be asking in the first week of your new internship.

3.     Follow the Lead. Understand company rules and protocol. When the rules aren’t clear, ask a peer before asking management, as it’s better to look smart to management (by not bothering them) than dumb to co-workers (especially since peers expect you’ll ask what appear to be silly questions at first and will give you more leeway). It can be as arcane as knowing whether you should be pitching in to cover a work lunch or as nuanced as when and how much alcohol you can drink during work hours and in what context. Since you’ve likely identified seasoned key influencers in the company by now, you should look to them for mirroring, shadowing or sage advice.

4.     Know Your Audience. While you should know on your first day of work who your direct manager is and start building a relationship with them, there are other decision makers and influencers that can impact your career. Unless your manager is the business owner, it is important to understand that the President/CEO is a constituent that can help expedite, or end, your career. Unfortunately, many decisions can be made based on perception, so it is important to ensure the owner is familiar with you and your value to the organization. Figure out what makes your manager and other key influencers in your company tick and do your best to make them happy. If the owner makes a request of you, make sure you deliver, or quickly clarify why you’re unable to meet their expectations (and it better be a good excuse!).

5.     Be Humble. Treat all fellow coworkers with respect. In fact, be more humble than normal, especially early on. First impressions matter and you want to stand out from other Millennials that lack respect for senior coworkers that have paid their dues and earned respect. Spend more time listening and less time talking until you get a feel for the culture and team dynamics. Just because coworkers make fun of each other doesn’t mean you’ve earned the right to do the same. If another co-worker makes a request of you, don’t hesitate to act. Do a better job than you would for friends and family to ensure you set a high bar that sets you apart.

6.     Get it Right the First Time. The only thing worse than missing a deadline is missing a deadline AND doing spotty work. When asked to complete a project or task, ask questions until you fully understand the expectations. Pro tip: recite or restate the request back to ensure you are both on the same page, especially regarding deadlines. As a junior hire, you should be given some leeway regarding errors and omissions, but most high performing companies do expect a steep learning curve like we do at Anvil. There is no excuse for making the same mistake twice. Pro Tip 2: learning from the mistakes of others is much cheaper than learning from your own mistakes, so ask peers for insights before tackling a project.

7.     Pay Your Dues. Perhaps more of a concept from the Baby Boomer and Generation X crowd, the concept of paying your dues still applies to business as it does in life. The painful reality of the working world is that nobody owes you anything, and you must earn trust and respect before you have the credibility to make any sort of asks around salary, benefits or other perks, without generating a potential backlash. So, don’t ask for something you haven’t earned, whether that be a new laptop, big pay increase. If you feel you’ve earned something, create a presentation outlining your value and contribution (the more revenue you’ve helped generate, the better) and close with your ‘ask.’ Prepare to have the same job title or even pay for the first year or three. Don’t hold your breath for that corner office and Vice President title, as that can take an entire lifetime to achieve. Pro tip: don’t think you can job-hop your way up the ladder significantly faster than staying at one place. In some cases, it can set you back, as you appear to be unreliable, disloyal or have other issues.

8.     Fail Fast and Apologize Faster. I’ve mentioned the power of humility, which includes quickly and thoroughly apologizing for any missteps you make in your career. More importantly, however, is the need to fail quickly and move on. Nobody is perfect and everyone around you has made mistakes and failed. I’ve failed tragically throughout my career, but I’ve learned from each experience, rebounded and been better for it. The best places to work embrace failure, because without failure, you’re not trying, learning and growing. Some of the world’s most important inventions were born from product failures, in fact (Post-it Notes, microwaves, etc.).

9.     Own Your Experience. As the old saying goes, you get out what you put in. Even though my first internship in Seattle was neither smooth or nor easy, I did learn a good deal about what it takes to make it in the real world and a good deal about myself too. I worked hard for virtually no pay and did whatever was asked of me. I spent time getting to know the people on my team and across the agency and even asked my coworkers complete a survey to give me helpful feedback for my next job. One of my coworkers wrote out an entire page of feedback that provided invaluable insights and aided in my career development. My fellow interns at the agency did none of this and I doubt they received the same value as a result.

10.  Learn Valuable Life Skills. I left college barely knowing how to cook or do laundry. I certainly hadn’t had a white-collar career job at that point and didn’t have any clue what an 8-5 job entailed. Pro Tip: to get ahead at a company, put in the hours needed to get your job done right, even if it means a few extra hours on the evenings and weekends. Perception is key, as I’ve mentioned, so consider arriving before management and leaving after they depart to show your commitment. Work is more than watching a clock and producing widgets; it’s an opportunity to network and learn. I’ve made lifelong friendships with coworkers at various companies over the years, and they helped me learn valuable life skills on and off the clock, from making car repairs to securing home mortgages. Don’t waste the opportunity to meet like-minded people and learn from them. 

I’ve been fortunate to have a career trajectory that enabled me to reach personal and professional life goals, but it came at a high price. I wish I’d been born with the knowledge I’ve imparted today, but I had to learn it the hard way. Now that I’ve shared my insights, I’m hoping you’ll have an even more successful career trajectory. If I missed any tips, feel free to share them in the comments section below.