An internship buys you experience, and if you are clever you will have have taken every single opportunity to soak up as much experience as you can, but now it is time to go from intern to consummate professional. Here are a few tips on how to make the transition.
Hit the ground running
You are in a category of people that have a fierce desire to be fully employed. Serving for free or for a small wage over any period of time creates a hunger that goes beyond all reason. Act as if you have been doing the job all your life and show no signs of timidity. The tenacious and ruthless get the prize and be prepared to do what the other candidates will not.
March into the manager’s office
You need to network and shamelessly self-promote yourself, which means if you cannot get an interview, you march into the manager’s office and meet with him personally. Do it the right way to start with, and if you cannot get past the secretary, then walk in and demand a meeting with the manager. The worst they can say is “no” and if they say no, then dig out their objection, overcome it and ask again.
Find out how others did it in your industry
You are not the first intern of your type. There were people before you and there will be people after you. How did the people before you get the jobs they are in now? Where did they go, what did they do, who did they talk to and how did they do it?
Connect with old friends
If you were smart, then you did a lot of networking and questioning while you were doing your internship. If you were not so smart about it, then reconnect with a few old friends. Go back if you must and meet with the people you were working with. Find out where they got their jobs and ask for their advice. You will find that people are often flattered when they are asked for advice and may give away a little more information than they would have done normally.
As odd as it sounds, you may have noticed that the biggest element to transitioning from intern to paid professional is attitude. If you are prepared to go all out, then you can force your way into a job that your co-working intern friends could only dream of. You have the experience and you have the qualifications; if you have the attitude then you will win.
Do you have any advice on how to upgrade your career after an internship? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo: Tom Chapman / Flickr
Michael McPherson is a graduate student from Boston University, career expert, freelance blogger and a regular contributor at
http://www.topreviewstars.com
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