Here's What The Ideal Intern Looks Like To Employers

By Francine Fluetsch on April 21, 2015

This article is brought to you by Dream Careers, the largest global internship program for college students offering all-inclusive programs in 11 cities worldwide. To learn more about Dream Careers, please visit us at SummerInternships.com.

What do you think of when you think of an ideal intern?

Maybe you think of a person who has a strong passion for the field and who is okay with investing immense amounts of time into the company without getting paid. Maybe you think of a straight A student, who wishes to beef up their resume and get ready for the real world. Or maybe you think of someone who will come to work every day with a notebook in hand, eager and ready to learn from management and other employees.

Whatever you picture, there are lots of ways to embody the “ideal” intern.

image via askcheyb.com

All of the creative writing classes at UC Santa Cruz require us students to attend a weekly seminar called Living Writers, a wonderful program where writers come and read to us from their works as well as tell us how they got published and about their schooling and experience, and answer any other questions that we would have for them.

The hosts for the program are two of the four creative writing interns, whom are selected by the professors of creative writing.

I asked Karen Yamashita, one of our amazing professors of creative writing as well as one of the co-directors of the Living Writers Series, what exactly would sum up the “ideal intern” in her mind.

“It goes without saying that they can write and read intelligently,” Yamashita said.

“However, beyond this, I think we look for people who are personable and communicative, have poise in interacting with others, even if the others might be difficult. We invite visiting authors to campus, and while they are all very good people, they can sometimes have their particular needs and requirements. So our interns have to have social skills for working with, being respectful and supporting, others.”

I think it would take a lot of guts to be one of the creative writing interns. They have to speak in front of a room full of people, which definitely can be daunting and would indeed require communication skills as Yamashita highlighted. Interacting with the authors would be an honor, but would also be a challenge in itself, since they would always have to keep their composure.

“We also want interns to be very organized, efficient, and extremely responsible,” Yamashita continued. “We need to trust that a scheduled event or job will happen and happen on time.”

“We also want self-starters, those who can see a problem or situation and pitch in without asking,” she said. “Finally we hope for creative minds, thinking about what we do in new ways and contributing with new ideas and possibilities.”

The interns always send us creative writing students emails packed with helpful major information as well as writing opportunities, send out newsletters, hold a writing society where we can bring our work to get edited and so much more.

It makes total sense that they would have to be well rounded in all the areas that Professor Yamashita highlighted, for the benefit of the program and other students. It sure sounds like a lot of pressure, but if the passion is there, it would definitely be rewarding.

Gilbert Fluetsch, account manager at ZebraSci, said they usually have one or two interns working for them at a time. Rob Schultheis, the owner and founder of ZebraSci, graduated from Drexel University, and there is a program in the ME department that sophomores and juniors can participate in, which leads them to interning at ZebraSci.

“Most of the time the interns we get have very minimal real life experience,” Fluetsch said. “We are a company focusing on R&D, so the intern can participate actively in new and exciting stuff related to optics or physics and support that with the textbook knowledge they have learned in the classroom.”

“Since they have to design stuff, knowing Solidworks, a 3D CAD design software, is definitely a plus,” he said.

Interning is a great way to really apply what you have been learning in class and to see if it is actually what you thought it would be. As an intern, your company will know you haven’t really had life experience, but that’s okay! As long as you show you are willing to apply yourself, you’ll learn along the way.

“But I guess the most important aspects for an intern are that he/she is willing to convert the textbook knowledge learned at school into real life situations,” Fluetsch said. “An intern can learn without being exposed to deadline pressures most of the time – it’s a safe environment - interns cannot be fired if they make a mistake. An intern should be like a sponge – take everything in what he/she can learn during the time they are in a real world setting.”

Show your eagerness to learn, ask questions, and show your employer that you are valuing your time as well as theirs. This is your real life shot before “real” real life. Show them what it means to you, and the sky is the limit.

Jennifer May, one of the career advisers at UC Santa Cruz, showed me her Pinterest page which is packed with tons of advice for interns and how to be the perfect one–check it out! She also supplied me with a link to what employers are currently looking for.

So to sum it up, if you show that you are hard working, will put in the effort, can time manage and be a problem solver, and show your willingness to learn, you are on the right track to becoming the ideal intern. Good luck!

Looking for a top internship in an exciting city? Enroll in Dream Careers and guarantee yourself an internship and a fun summer in your choice of 11 cities globally. To visit our website, please click here.

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