Spring Internships

First, happy new year!

Many of you will be kicking off the new year with a Spring internship - either in public accounting or in the corporate world. Following are some tips to help you succeed in your internship:

1. Bring a great attitude to work with you.
Be someone who people like to work with and want on their team. Smile, be eager to learn, show enthusiasm and a sense of curiosity about your work, be proactive about asking for more work when you have downtime or time available (there is always work to be done during busy season!), and when the going gets tough (as it inevitably will during the long hours sometimes required at this time of year) be the person who shows grace under pressure.

2. Be prepared to work hard and diligently.
Be the person who shows up on time or early for work. Use any time before your team arrives to plan your day and make a game plan for accomplishing your deliverables (also see below). Be the person who not only delivers work on time but also checks their work and then checks it again - this way you will be someone who gets a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy. There will be long hours, so go to your internship mentally prepared for that and make the most of all the work experiences that come your way - you will learn a lot!

3. Show great time management skills.
Develop a system to make sure that you keep track of your deliverables and ensure they are completed in a timely manner. There are many tools available to help you in this regard. The tool you use is less important than finding a method that works for you to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks when you are responsible for multiple deliverables under time pressure. In addition, make sure that you are correctly prioritizing tasks and if you are unsure how to do so, ask for your manager's input. Also, it's a good idea to get into the habit of asking for due dates and a time budget for tasks you are given.

4. Develop good working relationships.
Having an internship is a great way to expand your network. You will be working long hours with your co-workers this Spring - develop friendships where you can and plan to stay in touch with these individuals after you complete your internship - make this the beginning of developing your professional network which will serve you well in the years to come.

5. Don't be afraid to do some menial tasks.
Being a good team member sometimes means being the person who makes the photocopies or goes to collect coffee for the team in the middle of the afternoon. Be the person who is up for both challenging work and also has a good attitude (see 1. above) when a less demanding but helpful task is asked of you.

I wish you the best in your internships. I hope you learn a lot and make a difference at the companies you will be working for this Spring!