Internship Goals

The impending feelings of uncertainties about the world after graduating from college looms over students who are closing to the end of their college journeys. These feelings of uncertainties give them a freight from suppositions if the things they learn from the university are enough. Fortunately, internship programs are offered for students to get a hands-on experience with employee-employer relationship goals for the career path they have ventured.

Applying for an internship from a company your desire enables you to learn significant things which can be become the pillars of your career while putting into action the things you have learned from your university. Although the university requires you to meet the university objectives from your internship, it is essential you set your own goals and objectives for purposes of personal and professional development. Internship or on-the-job training goals can redefine better your employee goals in the future. If you want to make your university proud by acing all the tasks that are handed to you by your internship employer or employers, setting your internship goals would be the best idea. We provide a list of general internship goals that you can use in different types of job. But before we go through all that, we must never forget to discuss the importance of setting goals for your internship. So how are these goals important? Let’s find out.

The Importance of Setting Goals for your Internship

Setting your goals in anything that you venture is an investment in your career. Considering that an internship is a program that allows you to experience what it’s like to be in the “real world”, it is essential that you set your own goals aside from the objectives that are set by your university, which usually does not go to the specifics.

You can benefit a lot from setting your internship goals. One of these benefits is being absorbed in the company once you have graduated. The goals you set for this program molds you into a better individual and a future employee. With these goals, you are more likely to exceed the expectations of your seniors or managers since these, too, causes a drastic effect on your performance. While it can be perceived by others that setting your internship goals is selfish, you have to keep in mind that the aim to become better does not mean that all of your focus should only be on enhancing your skills to get the job done. Your colleagues and managers also play a significant role in developing your skills. Your goals as an intern should adjust well to the company goals or team goals. Through the help of these goals paired with your manager and colleagues pieces of advice, the goals you set for your internship may be redefined and become more practical and efficient when handling tasks.

If you desire to be an asset to the company you are applying for your internship in the hopes of getting absorbed, be sure you set your internship goals and commit to them. As a matter of fact, you need to set goals in the different aspects of life that you have indulged yourself in to be fully disciplined at the same time successful in taking different ventures.

7 Examples of Internship Goals

Aside from just living up the goals and objectives that are set by both the university and the company or job position you have applied for, you have to develop goals of your own. From this, you can ensure yourself that you will receive a good evaluation of your performance by the end of your internship period. If you are not absorbed by the company, this positive evaluation can be forwarded to different companies which makes getting a job easy.

So what exactly are the goals you need to list down during your internship? Check our examples below.

1. Be knowledgeable about the business

   Before applying to a company for your internship, do an extensive research about the company. From this, you will have an idea about what the things they do and which department or job position does you good. Furthermore, acing your internship interview is going to be easy since you know already some things about the company. Having even a bit of knowledge about the company is a very good first impression that makes you are potential candidate for willing to learn interns. Once you are accepted by the managers of the company be eager to learn the processes and procedures to handle tasks with little or no supervision at all. During the period of training or orientation, be sure you ask important questions for you to be fully aware of your scope of responsibilities or if there are shortcuts or techniques to handle future tasks with ease for an inclined productivity. Once this is achieved, be sure you apply your learnings during your shift.

2. Practice patience

   The stress you experience from thesis-making pales in comparison with the almost-daily stress you experience in a job. Some tasks can inspire the growth of frustration which makes it even more cumbersome since your performance is greatly affected each time your mind is troubled with frustration. Frustration from work does not do you any good and only cause further troubles by messing up your outputs, which your employer would return it to revise your output or you might even be scolded for producing outputs with contemptible quality (making you even more frustrated). If you think your patience is already thinning, try going outside the office by asking your boss’s permission and relieve your impending frustration by taking a deep breath. When not on shift, try meditating or listening to the music that grants you relaxation. This keeps your mind from thinking and evaluating clearly and critically.

3. Act on your profession

   In the field of business, it is important for you to act professionally. This does not entirely mean you have to be boring and just think about the business. Rather, this means you acknowledge business projects and tasks professionally. There is a need for you to define your professional persona even if you are just an intern for this helps you interact professionally and formally with your colleagues and managers. If you take pride in the career path you have undertaken, then act like you already are a professional in it.

4. Strive to become better

   Don’t take yourself as a novice to excuse yourself from not excelling in any tasks you are assigned with or from accepting the tasks that the manager wants you to handle. Instead, think of all the learnings you can acquire by doing the tasks you know next to nothing of. Sure, you will be met with difficulties but you can always ask for any advice or assistance from your colleagues or seniors so that you will be guided. Challenge yourself to do better things and, thus, expand your learnings. Don’t build a door for negative impressions to knock by telling your manager you are not able to do such tasks since you have no experience in doing the tasks or that your university didn’t teach you anything about certain tasks. Not only does your unwillingness to learn create a negative impression on your managers and colleagues, it also becomes a major impediment to your professional growth which later affects your personal growth.

5. Be confident in yourself

   Given that you are working with people who have been a part of the company for so many years now, there are instances where your self-esteem seems to fade by the minute– especially if you have committed mild or major mistakes. This is because you might think they do not need you at all and your mistakes only give them more tasks. You have to change your perception towards things and regain your confidence. You have to remind yourself that the company hired you because they sense your potential. Prove yourself that you are worthy of the position and start believing in your skills and talent. Mistakes are only natural, even the pros of your companies still commit mistakes. If you put your mindset in the light of optimism, you can definitely accomplish all the tasks that are handed to you and even exceed the expectations of your managers.

6. Exercise resilience

   It is common for companies to face seemingly unresolvable difficulties and you might feel guilty about it that it discourages you to continue your internship. And, too, discouragements in a company can come in the form of negative written evaluation from your managers or them scolding you for failing to meet the standards of the company. Though it may seem that recovering from this comes with difficulties, it is not really difficult at all if you just think about these negative instances as an opportunity to come up with resolutions for your areas of opportunities. Identifying your own strengths and weaknesses can be challenging knowing that you are not entirely aware of them. Pay these negative instances with gratitude and act on the resolutions you have come up with.

7. Stop your negative habits

   As we age, we develop habits of our own which not only affect ourselves but also the people around us. One of the negative habits that gravely affects your productivity as an intern is a procrastination. When tasks are handed to you by your manager be sure you do them immediately. If you procrastinate chances are your workload would pile up until you become stress from thinking about how you are going to finish all the tasks and then regret procrastinating. Not only that, the quality of your output will definitely be questioned and be handed back to you if your manager sees the need for revision. Stressful, isn’t it? Procrastination and other bad habits you continue to do in your workplace can also be impactful to your relationship with your colleagues and manager. If circumstances come to worse, your internship in the company will be over before it even gets completed. If your habit includes a heavy indulgence in cigarettes and alcoholic drinks make sure you put a stop to that or minimize your intake on that since health issues can also be one of the many reasons why your productivity declines.

Once you have set your internship goals, you can give yourself the assurance that you will be able to complete your internship and with positive feedback from the managers and colleagues you have worked with. You have to keep in mind though, that some of the internship goals you set may change since some of them are defined by team goals (which may change from time to time). Be an exemplary intern with effective internship goals, and get ready to face the discouraging airs of the real world with an unwavering determination.