Unfortunately, not all internships provide students with a great experience. In fact, you’ve likely gone through an internship experience that you couldn’t stand in the least. However, there is still something to be gained from such experiences.
While you may not have gotten what you signed up for, you can grab some takeaways from a bad internship experience and utilize those learnings down the road. To help you decipher what’s worth taking with you and what isn’t, here are a few helpful tips that you can take away from a bad internship experience.
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1. Networking
First and foremost, when you take on an internship, you are building a whole new network of connections, whether you know it or not. Every person you meet in this internship has expanded your network, which will come in handy down the road.
Individuals leave positions and companies all the time, so it’s always a good thing to have someone in your corner that can share new opportunities with you, provide references for other jobs, and just generally lend you their advice for getting ahead in your career.
2. Gaining of Skills
Odds are, if you consider your previous internship a bad one, you don’t feel that you walked away with anything useful. However, when taking on a new job, you’re gaining skills that you’re going to use throughout your career.
Regardless of who you worked for and what the internship looked like, you likely gained a plethora of intangible skills such as organization, prioritization, professionalism, etc. that are only going to help you as you begin the interview process for your first job. So don’t look at it as a total loss, even if you didn’t develop the skills you wanted to, because you did develop some skills, without a doubt.
3. Experience with Professional World
As mentioned previously, every job helps you to gain experience in the professional world. The more accustomed you are to navigating that world, the better off you’ll be in the interview process, as you’ll come across much more confidently than your competition.
Every job is an opportunity to learn something, whether you enjoyed the experience or not. So just know that you’ve gained some essential experience in the professional world that you can tap into later on.
4. Resume Booster
Along this same line of thought, remember that a lot of the benefit of working internships is for that coveted experience you can list on your resume. Internships are, without a doubt, a resume booster.
Again, when applying to positions, whether or not you enjoyed your internship experience, the fact that you have it on there will set you apart from those that don’t. Additionally, it’s a great opportunity to showcase that, while you’re applying for an entry-level job, you will have transferable skills that make you more valuable than the competition applying to the same position.
5. How to Screen Co-Workers
One of the elements that students rarely think of, but is absolutely essential following a bad internship, is that it gives you rare insight into the type of people you do and do not want to work with.
When you interview down the road, you’ll be able to more accurately determine if a manager’s leadership style is a fit for you, if you would get along with the other individuals that work at the company, and, further down the road, how to more accurately make hiring decisions for your team.
When you have a bad internship experience, people usually play into that experience, so don’t just push that information aside; use it.
6. How to Screen a Work Environment
Lastly, hunting for jobs is not an easy process, and when you experience a bad one, you tend to learn more of what you’re looking for in your next opportunity. For this reason, you’ll be able to determine rather quickly, probably even during an interview, whether or not an organization is the right fit for you.
What this will do is save you so much time down the road. While entry-level applicants don’t really have the luxury of being picky, that’s not to say you should accept any job, regardless of how you feel about it. If you walk in and are immediately reminded of your bad internship, don’t feel bad turning around and walking right back out.
Again, not every internship is going to be a magical experience that will propel you forward into the career of your dreams. That being said, not all bad experiences need to be thrown away as a waste of time either.
Just like in the real world of professionalism, you’re going to experience jobs that you don’t like. Still, there are takeaways here that are important to your development as a professional.
So, before you get angry in believing your internship was a waste of time, make sure you utilize these learning points to ensure you walk away with as much experience under your belt as possible.
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