Internships are more than just a summer gig. Play your cards right, and you could be looking at your first real job. But how do you make that happen?
We wanted the real scoop, so we went straight to the source and talked to 10+ people who've either managed interns or were interns themselves.
Here are their best tips for landing that return offer!
Companies bring in interns for all sorts of reasons. While some use internships to scope out potential full-timers (hello, that could be you!), others just need extra hands.
A lot of employers now see internships as a way to get gig jobs done rapidly. So when they bring you on as an intern, they're not looking to convert you to a full-time employee.
For example, at the electronics manufacturer I interned at, they hired me because they knew they were getting someone on-call without having to pay the price of the full price of a full engineer. The reality is, they may not have the budget for an engineer until the next fiscal year, so they look for interns to fill in until they can get one.
– Former mechanical engineering intern @ NASA
In other words, many employers don't have a full-time opening waiting for you when you finish your internship. So your best bet is to ask them about this – as early as when you apply for the job.
When you're applying, explicitly ask whether the internship can convert to a full-time offer.
– Former software engineer @ Meta
Knowing whether they have full-time openings helps you figure out if your goals match up with theirs.
So you've landed the internship. Here's your game plan:
First things first – make sure this is actually a place you want to work long-term. Use your internship to get a feel for the company culture, the work, and your potential future colleagues.
Make sure you finish the whole internship. After a month at one internship, I was sure I wanted to stay at the company. Then it ended up being investigated for fraud.
– Former mechanical engineering intern @ NASA
Impressing your managers isn't about making grand slams every day. It's about consistently bringing your best game to the plate. Show them you're reliable, efficient, and always looking to add value – even in small ways.
We're not expecting you to making homeruns. But do try to make contributions whenever you can. If you can improve something by 1%, that's great!
For example, we might give you some raw data in Excel and ask you to reformat it before we send it out to someone. Or we might ask you to pretty up a PowerPoint or clean up a query. Whatever it is, give it your 100% and don't half-ass anything.
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
Find areas for improvement. If you can find a process and expedite it, you'll be a complete value-add and people will absolutely love that.
Is this person efficient? Are they getting their deliverables and tasks efficiently (e.g. before you expect them to)? Do they respond to clients quickly?
You don't need to be the office clown, but being pleasant and easy to work with goes a long way. Remember, these could be your future coworkers.
During your internship, be easy to get along with. Nobody wants to be around someone who's a drag everyday. You're spending half your waking hours with people in your company. It's gotta be a good fit.
Given two interns – one who does perfect work but has no social skills and another who has social skills and an acceptable level of work – I'd take the one with social skills. You can't teach the skills that make them fun to work with but you can teach them those other things.
– Senior graphic designer
Even if you're good at your job, if people don't like you, they're not just going to want you back. That's just the reality – especially for internships. Since we're going to invest in you as a person, you have to be a good fit.
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
Sometimes companies keep around those super-smart but super-grumpy senior folks. It happens. Why? Because they've got skills that are hard to replace.
But here's the thing: You're just starting out. You don't have years of experience to fall back on (yet). So for now, being likable is part of your skillset.
Bottom line: Don't be the person everyone avoids in the break room. Bring good vibes, be someone people actually want to work with. It's not about being fake - it's about being a positive part of the team.
Being likable is great, but let's kick it up a notch: Get to know your coworkers. Why? Because when it's decision time, their opinions can make or break your chances.
Do coffee chats with everyone. Make sure people know you. Everyone gets asked, "How was the intern?" "Were they helpful? "Would you want to work with this person? Did they do anything that's off-putting?"
To assess our interns, the firm gave us a rubric to fill out, which they changed slightly every year. These were used for all levels of employees though and were typically pretty broad.
I also received intern-specific questionnaires from the HR teams that touched on communication, professionalism, work ethic, technical ability, and other similar factors. They often ended with similar questions like "Would you work with this person again?" or "Would you recommend this person be hired?"
As the associate or senior associate working with an intern, I'd be responsible for filling out these questionnaires on my own. We'd then convene as a team and discuss our assessments of the interns.
Being enthusiastic shows employers that you want the job – which is something that matters when they're deciding whether to bring you back full-time.
Showing enthusiasm isn't just about being peppy - it's about demonstrating that you actually want to be there. And guess what? That matters when employers are deciding whether to bring you back full-time.
Energy is crucial. If you're not that smart but you ask the right questions, work hard, and bring good energy, I'd hire you over someone who's a genius but miserable to work with and doesn't want to be there.
For example, I had an intern who's very successful. I trained him for three years. He struggled and just didn't have a natural gift for engineering. But whenever I'd give him something to do, he was always very enthusiastic. Because I saw his sincerity, whenever he needed help, I loved helping him.
Some people just have the energy – they're ambitious and they want to be there.
On the other hand, I had another intern who would show up to work in a hoodie and always had earbuds in. He had no energy, no drive, no ambition. You could tell he didn't want to be there. When the company asked him what it was like working with him, you can bet I didn't give him a glowing review.
– Electrical engineer @ Stantec
So how do you show your enthusiasm? Besides doing your best to contribute to the team, you should also:
(a) Be a self-starter
(b) Show that you're eager to learn
(c) Be engaged
Don't wait for someone to tell you what to do. Look for ways to help out. If you finish your work early, ask what else you can do.
To my memory, we only had one intern who we didn't extend an offer to - they were a little too chill. They never asked "Is there anything else I can help with" and they just kinda left for the day. Usually, it's better to ask – you'll leave a better impression.
– Consulting manager @ EY
The best interns don't wait for work to come to them. They proactively seek it out. For example, they'd come in in the morning and ask me what they could do for the day.
And when they had downtime (as most interns do), they didn't just sit at their desk. They walked around, asking people if they needed help with anything.
(For context, most people can do things themselves. They don't need an intern to do it for them. In fact, it usually takes more work to assign something to an intern, since you may need to get them up to speed. But when I see an intern proactively asking for work, I'm happy to assign them something.)
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
Definitely ask, "How can I help?" even if it means staying there two hours later. Now when you start full-time, you can go home and do your work there. But during your internship, you've got to go above and beyond.
If it makes sense for your role, you can show that you're to learn by asking to shadow someone.
Say "I have 10 minutes before the next meeting, can I watch what you're doing?"
– Senior cybersecurity engineer
Make sure to ask questions throughout your internship.
As a junior person, it's better to ask more questions than too few.
If you ask too few, it seems like you don't care, so it's actually better to be annoying than to seem like you don't care. Though the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.
(There was an intern who asked me an unusual amount of questions, but that's not something I held aginst them. I figured that they didn't know much about the job, so I went out of my way to sit down with them to go over stuff to pre-empt any questions. Internships at the end of the day are a learning opportunity.)
– Former data analyst @ Instacart
Ask questions to understand how your work fits into your team's overall goals.
I would say during their time as an intern, do your best to ask questions about why you’re doing the work you’ve been assigned as opposed to just getting the jobs done and moving on to the next one. In other words, try to understand the big picture around the work you’re doing.
– Senior actuary @ an insurance company
Ask questions about why you are doing what you're doing. This shows you want to know more – my managers loved to explain the scope of the audit and how my small task fit into the bigger puzzle.
Don't go on your phone in front of the team.
Be on time if not early.
Personally I've never had an intern come back (some of them were in high school!) but these are the characteristics I'd look for to see if we would really want to hire them full-time.
- Does this person seem highly engaged? For example, instead of just sitting in a meeting with clients, are they taking notes, following up and asking questions? Do they seem like they're bringing a level of thought and intellect?
- Is this personal professional when interacting with clients? Are they articulate? Are they concise? Do they actively listen?
- Does this person have a good attitude? Does this person go above and beyond? Is this person enthusiastic at work? (When people talk to you, don't just go "mmhmm" and "nod.")
Don't assume employers know you want to stick around. Actually tell your manager or HR that you're interested in a full-time position.
Make sure you let your manager know that it's your goal to become a full-time employee.
For context, not every intern manager understands that the internship program is for the company to find full-time staff. They might be under the impression that their job is just to keep you happy!
– Former software engineer @ Meta
It never hurts to ask! When you approach the end of your internship, and you think you might want to stay, a lot of places aren't going to readily offer the position. They want to know that you're interested in the position. I've heard employers say, "Why didn't they ask to stay?"
– Senior graphic designer
Pro tip: Don't just say you want the job - ask your manager straight up what it takes to qualify for that return offer.
The company usually has evaluations, where your supervisors and managers would talk to you about your performance and ask you questions like "Do you like the job so far?" or "Are you happy here?" If you like the job, express how you feel and ask them what the long-term career path would look like.
You can also assess how much they'd want you to come back by asking "After I finish this internship, do you think I'm ready for this position?" (This is a great question because you can also get advice on what you would need to do for positions like this.)
If you did really well, you could even ask for a raise in the same conversation! Intern pay isn't that high. I was only making $14-16/hour. If they're interested in you, I'd definitely ask for a raise: "I feel like I've been doing a good job and my performance review reflects, so I think it's justified that I ask for X amount until I get an offer."
– Civil engineer with 5+ years of experience
Make sure your manager is on the same page as you. You can do this by communicating your goal of coming back full-time and asking them what you'd need to do to get there.
Here's how this conversation might look.
- Intern: I'm really enjoying interning here and would love to come back as a full-time employee. What would it take for me to do this?
- Manager: So we'll have a review where you'll get graded on different aspects of your performance – the different "grades" being "meets expectations," "exceeds expectations," "greatly exceeds expectations," etc. As long as you achieve "exceeds expectations," you'd typically receive a return offer.
- Intern: What's the difference between "exceeds expectations" and "greatly exceeds expectations"?
- Manager: Well, you might get a better offer and more stocks.
- Intern: And how do people generally receive "greatly exceeds expectations"?
This conversation will push your manager to explicitly define what you need to do to achieve your goals. You can then come up with a plan with your manager to make sure you reach your goal. This way you leave less to chance.
– Former software engineer @ Meta
No immediate return offer? Not to fear. If you've been getting along with your coworkers, those connections could still lead to future opportunities.
Express that you liked your time there and are interested in future roles if available!
Keep that line of communication open. Leave your contact info so they can reach out if there's an opening.
– Senior chemical engineer
Get to know people and stay in touch with them. The way the economy works now, a lot of people don't go from intern to full-time. But if you become friends with those people, they'll come to you when there's an opening.
– Former mechanical engineering intern @ NASA
You can find plenty of internships on Prosple. We have a vast selection of internships curated for students like you. Just filter 'til you find the right fit!