Be prepared to make an impact in your new role. Whether it is an internship you hope to turn into longer employment or a full-time position, set yourself up for success and manage your onboarding and growth with intention.
You are the CEO of your own career! Never stop building on the CareerBound competencies. These core competencies are applicable to every employee at every stage of a career in every industry.
Career coaches at the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business can assist you in making your internship successful. Success may mean honing skills in an industry you know you want to work in; exploring a new industry or job function; or using the internship to launch yourself into your first post-graduation, full-time position.
Every internship can get you closer to your dream job!
“I acquired my internship through the school's connection with the company and its recruiters.”
Kijune Kim, Economics '23
Learn from your internship experiences. An impactful internship may surprise you and cause you to return to the Explore stage and alter the goal you created. Or, your internship could exactly support your goal, and be a stepping stone to being hired with the organization.
Either way, treat internships as cooperative educational experiences in which you add to your skill set and build your reputation and brand.
Meet with a career coach to review these tips in detail and learn how to make the most of your internships.
Tips to become a savvy intern and make powerful career moves:
One of the best benefits of an internship or cooperative education experience is that it can serve as your passport to future employment opportunities. Here are some tips to becoming a savvy intern and making powerful career moves:
You’ve landed the job — now, dive in! Daniels School career coaches can share specific moves for those first 90 days in your new role, including:
Accelerate Learning by understanding organizational dynamics, culture, and processes; establishing positive relationships, and asking good questions.
Negotiate Success by taking ownership of your relationship with your boss and clarifying expectations and the definition of success early and often.
Secure Early Wins by identifying opportunities early on to build your personal credibility. Don’t take on more than you can successfully handle, and be sure your wins align to what matters to leadership.
You are in control of your career. Challenge yourself.
When it comes to getting ahead, the key is never getting comfortable. Continue to develop new skills and strengthen the competencies you learned through CareerBound. Consider volunteering to work on new projects to meet new people in the organization and grow your network.
Use the LEARN framework to keep progressing in your career.
Learn New Skills
Excel Where You’re Great
Assist Others
Redirect Unwanted Work
Network
Don't forget to take a minute to acknowledge your achievements. The Daniels School wants to celebrate you and your professional success! Knowing what companies our graduates end up at helps us bring new and better organizations to campus for future students.
As you leave Purdue, let us know where you are headed by completing the First Destination Survey.
Here we celebrate just a few recent successes!
Collin Shelton
Finance '24
Procter & Gamble, Corporate Finance Intern
Stefanie Maxson
Marketing '24
Caterpillar, Inc., Marketing Intern
Ishan Rathod
Business Analytics and Information Management '24
Ernst & Young, Technology Risk Consultant Intern
Preparing for your future career is so much more than polishing your resume and memorizing interview tips. Our clear path to success takes you from an exploratory phase where you define your ultimate goal to a final step where you grow your career with intention.
Click on any of the pins to discover more.
