How Internships Set You Up for Success

Internships are an important and essential part of a career journey. They teach individuals how to behave in a professional setting, what they are interested in doing, and valuable technical and communication skills.

As the school year comes to a close, I sat down with some of my fellow interns to talk about what they learned in their getGFTD internships and how it sets them up for their future career.

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Steph: Why did you decide to do the internship?

Emma: I sat in on a few meetings last year and really liked the team dynamic working with Nina. I also wanted to enhance my digital media and graphic-making skills.

Maxx: I spoke with an advisor who said that Nina has an app that she has interns for and I remember when she was in the process of starting up. I thought, that’s really cool, and I was more than willing to work with her again, after I had her for my messina [program]. I wasn’t pushing to find this internship, but it came to me and it really fit perfectly.

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S: What did you gain from your internship?

E: Throughout the last 9 months, I gained a better skill of receiving feedback on things I created and tweaking it in a timely manner. In a group setting when I am getting advice on what I should change, I can immediately give new ideas.

M: I’ve worked a lot of jobs but this was different on a communication level where you’ve really got to talk to people and be on top of stuff. There’s deadlines, this isn’t like schoolwork where you can hand it in late.

Talking with people is another timing issue where you have to respond to people within a certain amount of time. You’ve got to be able to be on the phone because you don’t know what you’ll have to do in a day. You’ve got to be flexible.

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S: Why is an internship key to your future career?

E: As a senior, having an internship throughout the fall and spring gave me a solid foundation for what I’m about to enter after college in having an actual job. Meeting new people around campus is also key to developing your career.

M: Having an idea of how the professional world works and what is under the hood of a company was a big thing I learned. I helped try toget a grant and that was something crazy. I didn’t realize how much you go through on a monetary level or on the backend to make something move.

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S: What did you learn from your supervisor Nina?

E: Over the last year, Nina taught me a lot about time management. It strengthened my time management skills as she assigned different assignments for getGFTD along different platforms and I also had to manage my time with my course workload.

M: Nina is working more than 12 hours a day, in and out of classes, meetings, and phone calls. I’ve learned there’s sacrifices to be made and you need to make them in order to achieve greatness.

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S: What advice would you give to future interns?

M: Giving your all is really important, and it will pay off. We have a much smaller group of interns than when I first started but it’s cool to see everyone doing 110% of the work. Everyone is coming back each meeting with something bigger and bolder and that’s what getGFTD is all about. It’s about achieving that next step and giving back.

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