How to make use of your internship experience

Before knowing how to leverage your internship experience, you should know why you're applying it. Here are some benefits of applying an internship: 

1. CV Companies look at your work experience in your CV or LinkedIn when hiring you. It would be a bonus if you have related or prior experience in the field you're applying. 2. Stepping stone for a full time job Companies usually consider candidates who worked in their company before. It shows that you really like this company. Another advantage over other candidates is that you know the company culture and how the internal administration works. 3. Aquire transferable skills This is the most important from my perspective. Transferable skills like communications skills, organisation skills and designing skills can be applied and practiced everywhere once you learnt it. Internship is a good experience where you are supposed to learn through practical experience. I will explain more how I acquire these skills and applied in the school, possibly in future careers as well. Whatever the reason why you applied, there must be takeaways after finishing this wonderful journey. Let me share mine: 

Takeaways

1. Photos can be informative When I worked in Maxim's Group, one of the tasks was to design a leaflet for the Maximizer's Program, a programme for university clubs to collaborate with Maxim's Group. I realised that using clear and simple photos is the best to catch attention. This is why photo comes first in Instagram rather than the caption. You may wonder what photos should choose. I would say from my experience and the books I've read, photos with a facial appearance is the best because it connects with the audience. 2. Developing and retaining people This is one of the purpose why companies set up Learning & Development Department. They want to retain their good employees and nurture their talent. One of the simplest ways to do so is distributing welfare associated with the organisation or company. Maxim's have designed products such as USB, pens and calendars for employees. I adopted the same strategy in the HKUST Student Swimming Club. Not only did we designed a towel and swim suit for the team, I posted a lot of teammates's photos in Facebook and Instagram and tagged them. When someone likes their photo, they feel like representing the team. It's when people recognises their achievements and finally see the cool side of them. In this way, their sense of belonging increases. It's hard to measure but surely the team spirit is strengthened. 3. Delegation I have seen how my manager delegate her work to her colleagues. The division of labor is very clear. As a captain of the water polo team, I was told my an alumni to delegate the work to other team members. I always take up the jobs because I'm capable of finishing it, but I never thought of the fact that even though others might do it slowly this time, the whole process will be efficient after they have learnt the skills. After the internship then I realised delegation is very important. Remember I was an intern, delegation is the first place where I got the chance to take up new tasks to learn. If you want others to learn, you delegate the task to them.  

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