Should You Take The Internship Ask Yourself These 5 Questions

Should You Take The Internship Ask Yourself These 5 Questions pexels.com If you’re already overloaded with other jobs, classes, and requirements, taking on a big internship can be tricky and difficult to manage. Because these connections could be your future entryway into a career, you don’t want to make excuses and do the internship halfway therefore leaving a poor impression. You want to exude excellence. If you’re especially on top of things or if you’re taking a remote type of internship that allows more flexible hours, you may be pulling this off with other things going on. 2. What opportunities does it present? Especially if your internship will take a lot of your time and energy, you really need to evaluate what kinds of opportunities it presents to you. You should consider whether or not you genuinely see this business, or type of business, playing a large role in your future career. If you’re just kind of mildly interested, it may be in your interest just to shadow someone short-term rather than take a prolonged internship. Also decide if it’s directly related to what you want to do or just kind of related. If it is only kind of related, you may want to start looking again for other internships that have more applicable skills and areas to learn and work in while interning. That being said, sometimes internship opportunities are tough to come by and you may be just as happy in a kind of related internship than no internship at all. 3. Did you feel at home in the office? When you interview and are shown around the office, make sure to pay close attention to what the dynamic is like. Do people seem to be stressed? Are they getting along? Does there seem to be a hierarchy among coworkers or an equality? Depending on your personality and preferred style of work, some offices will not work with you. Some people thrive amongst high demands and high stress environments that enable competition, but others would shut down in that situation. Similarly, some people can be easily bored and uninspired with a laid-back office. Ultimately, you should know pretty early on how people are expected to work at your desired internship and any discomfort right off the bat is a red flag. Listen to your gut if it’s telling you that this office isn’t the right environment for you, even if it seems like the internship of your dreams on paper. 4. Can you see yourself getting along with your boss? Much like the workspace in general, take some mental notes on the people you may be working with on a regular dynamic. Do they seem to be social with each other? Are there cliques? Are there people like you? Are there people that resemble someone you would want to be? If you feel like you would be completely ostracized in your office environment, consider if that is really worth all the hardship it may cause you. pixabay.com However, if you feel totally connected and on the same wavelength as lots of the people around you, you may be in the perfect spot. Even if the people there don’t resemble you right now, if they resemble the person you might want to become, this is a great chance to learn some valuable things on how to achieve that. In short, it is usually the people that make or break an office environment. 5. What are your motives for taking the internship? If your motives are simply to put this internship on a resume, you may want to consider how much is going into that one little bullet point on a sheet of paper. When this is your motive, you’re likely to end up doing a job you really don’t like and aren’t passionate about. When you truly desire to learn more about a career and a job you’re interested in, everything seems worth doing even the little stuff. Nothing is better than gaining more and more knowledge about things you love learning about, and better yet, seeing yourself improve in those areas. If this happens while in an office that suits you, with people you like and admire, and a healthy chunk of time to dedicate, you have found the right internship for you.