Career Prep 2009 Summer Blog

August Keating of Hamilton College writes that Summer internship programs often have formal sessions established to offer you feedback during the summer. For instance, five weeks into your program you will likely sit down with your manager to receive your "Mid-Summer Review." Take the advice offered and strive to improve your weaknesses (areas of development) and maintain your strengths at their current level. The other formal session will take place at the close of the summer; you will again meet with your manager and this time it is for "End of Summer Feedback." This evaluation will essentially give you a heads up on whether or not you Got The Offer! Therefore, most interns go into this meeting with their fingers crossed, hoping they’ve made improvements based on feedback from the Mid-Summer Review. The fact of the matter is that no matter how confident you feel going into the final review, you still may not be absolutely sure you will receive positive feedback. That’s why the best thing you can do is to not wait for these crucial moments! Instead, you should make a point to set up informal feedback meetings with your managers and teammates throughout the summer. This way you’re not waiting until week 5 and week 10 to hear what your team actually thinks of you and your performance. Setting up meetings every couple of weeks allows you to gather direct feedback and implement the suggestions almost immediately. This way you can start of the summer at point x and continue to grow throughout the summer until you peak during week 10 and you Get The Offer!