No secret, an intern is the lowest position in every company, thus, routine unimportant tasks are probably a big part of their duties. While somehow it’s normal if you are asked to go and make some copies occasionally, it’s a totally different story when weeks have passed, and you still haven’t been given any meaningful assignment. Rather that silently crying and complaining to your friends about unfair life, try to change something yourself. Do your best to transform your ‘coffee-and-copies’ internship into something useful for your future career. Here are two tips on how to make it work:
Build a Relationship with Your Supervisor
While it may be obvious to you that the range of your skill is wider than making copies and coffee, your supervisor might have no idea he (or she) is not using your full potential. Everything is in your hands. Unless you show you are there to do your best, everybody, including your boss, may think that you are okay with the tasks you have. When you finally gather courage to speak to your supervisor, avoid putting yourself in a victim mode. Better try to be honest and stand out. Ask for more responsibilities by stating your strengths. For example, you may say something like this: “During the job interview, we have discussed that I have a blog and I’m good at handling it, maybe I can help with the company’s newsletter or Facebook page?” Just make sure you don't ask for any additional tasks because you are bored, that might not be the best idea. Your goal is to get higher-level tasks each time you are asked to do something. Your supervisor will see you are capable of handling more serious assignments which will lead to more challenging projects for you and will surely help you to show and prove your true potential!
Your Own Project
Another good tip is managing your own project. It’s a super impressive and hard challenge but if you handle it right, a full-time job offer is almost in your pocket. There is no better way to show that you are an independent person and can think for yourself, than finding areas that require some improvement and offering your solution. That is an actual problem in small and developing companies, where every employee has a lot of own duties and doesn’t have enough time to think about re-organizing the already established process, even if it’s not a well-built. Such companies often need a person who can point the possibly existing problems out and offer some ideas on how to improve them. Even if it’s something very small and is not related to your major or sphere of experience, you’ll still look like a rock star if you really can make it better and easier for everybody else. And that is a big plus for you!