Getting the Most Out of an Internship

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For the past month I have been interning with the Akron Aeros, learning the ins and outs to getting a minor league baseball team prepared for the upcoming season.  Many may not see the value in an internship especially with the stereotypical idea of interns being there simply to fetch coffee.  At first I admit that I viewed it as a necessary evil to entering a career in the sports or entertainment field.  From week one though, I have found that it is much more than that. 

There are two key ingredients to what I would call a successful, meaningful internship.  It starts with an organization whose management and employees are willing to not just teach but give responsibility.  It is just as important for an employer to find value in an internship as it is for the student.  The Congressional Management Foundation, focused on improving congressional operations and citizen engagement wrote an article, Keys to a Successful Internship Program.  This article provides universal tips that any organization, regardless of their industry, could use to develop their own program.  Their advice for managing a successful program is:

1.     Develop a clear purpose

2.     Create a formal orientation and training program

3.     Provide clear guidance and structure

4.     Balance interns’ administrative duties with more substantive work

Specifics for how to accomplish each of these key elements can be found in the complete article. 

Second, just as it is important for an organization to be willing to teach, it is important for an intern to be enthusiastic about learning.  The most important advice I received when starting my internship was that it was up to me how much I get out of it.  An internship is not just about what you learned from books or in class, but making connections and sucking as much knowledge as possible from the professionals you are working with.  Regardless of if the internship is paid or unpaid, it is an opportunity to gain professional skills while determining what aspects of an industry or job a student wants to pursue. 

So as my journey as a graduate student is coming to an end, I am finding out that growth does not stop here.  The experience and knowledge I am gaining from my internship is the result of not only an organization willing to teach but also the opportunity for continuous learning.

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