Three ways to turn your internship around

If reading through the signs that you might not be getting an offer has you concerned, remember that it’s not too late to turn things around! You can still show your summer employer that you are a great fit for their organization. Here are 3 ways to make the most of the second half of your internship.

1. Nail your final presentation: we’ll offer a few more thoughts in a couple of weeks about how to put the perfect final touches on your presentation at the end of the summer; in the meantime, it’s time for you to throw yourself headlong into making sure you are putting 110% into this task. If you’re at all unclear about what the expectations are of you, clarify them now; similarly, if you feel even a little concerned that your quant skills or strategic analysis isn’t up to snuff, now is the time to turn to your mentor, or to the whiz kid in your internship class, and quietly ask for a little help.

2. Accentuate the positive: if you find yourself complaining about your internship: stop! We know it’s not that easy, but it’s what you have to do; this will not only keep your superiors from questioning your satisfaction, it can also help you focus on what you do enjoy about the work.

3. Decide how much it really concerns you: if you really don’t enjoy your internship, or if you know you’d rather pursue something else when full-time recruiting begins, perhaps you don’t need to worry that much about whether you get an offer. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your best work (after all, you don’t want to burn any bridges), but deciding that you’d be okay with not receiving an offer might just lift unnecessary stress from your shoulders (which might, in turn, leave you ready to perform even better during the last half of your internship!).