15 tips for Summer Interns
If you’ve got a young adult headed off for some form of office Internship tomorrow, this post is for them. I don’t doubt that you, as a parent, grandparent or Aunt/Uncle, have given your cherub all of the advice they need to navigate this next phase of their life. But, sometimes, it can be useful if they hear the same stuff from someone else.
Attn: young budding professional. As you enter this new and likely foreign world, understand what a novelty it is to be 18, 19, 20 or 21 and even have the luxury to not be cutting lawns or painting houses this summer. Not that there’s anything particularly “luxurious” about borrowing a cubicle for a few weeks, but there are a lot fewer blackflies on Bay Street or in Back Bay than if you spent the rest of the summer tree planting in Northern Ontario or Vermont, for example.
One of the many odd things about our generation of parents is that we’ve manufactured “internships” so that some of you can get a feel for certain types of career paths. In 1985, or even 1995, such roles didn’t really exist. While one was too old to be a Camp Counsellor at the time, you were certainly too young and unformed (at age 19 or 21) to show up every day at a formal place of work.
And that was back when we had the benefit of Grade 13, with the extra year of maturing under our belts. In any event, here are the Top 15 tips to be successful over the coming eight-ten weeks. I’m told that your generation doesn’t have the longest attention span, so I’ll keep this shorter than my usual:
Be on time. Whether you are being paid or not, whomever hired you didn’t hire someone else instead. Show that you understand how lucky you are by being on time. It’s a small thing but no one forgets the staffers who roll-in distinctly later than everyone else.
Take public transit to work each day. There’s no better way to get a feel for how your city “works” than to Ride The Rocket. Don’t stare at your phone for the entire trip - the point is to get a sense of your surroundings: i) Which firms / organizations advertise on the subway or bus? Why? ii) Where are the people in your car headed? What do they do for a living? iii) Are they having an interesting life? Who did they vote for? iv) Might they be customers of the firm you’re interning at? If so, what are you seeing in them that you could share back at the office? v) if all else fails, read more about the company you’re working at, as well as its competitors.
If you are offered the chance to work IN THE OFFICE, say, 2 or 3 days a week, opt for the 3 days. Or 4. Or 5. Whatever the maximum is...that’s the right choice. You’ll learn a lot more “in the office” and you’ll meet far more people than if you’re sitting in the very same room you did zoom-school during Covid. It’ll definitely be a far more fulfilling experience as a result. “Remote work” is fine for a certain type of role — but not you, not this summer.
Take it all in. Figure out which of the full-time staff at your company are great at what they do. What makes them successful? Who are the “duds,” and how have they survived? As for the “Steady-Eddies,” every office has them — what is it about them that is holding them back professionally? The late Ted Rogers had a great line about someone being “Too good to fire, not good enough to hire.”
If you were in charge, what might you change (keep those thoughts to yourself)?
This is an opportunity to invest in yourself. Everything you learn will go into your personal toolbox for next time. These folks are paying you to learn — honour that by learning. Every day you leave the office with something undone, you’re actually stealing from yourself. I worked 90 hours a week as an M&A Associate in 1999 — it wasn’t always fun, but 45 hours/week isn’t going to kill you this summer. Five extra hours a week, times eight weeks, is an entire extra week of learning — which should equate to 10% more knowledge than you’d have gained otherwise.
As much as society claims to love “authenticity,” I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Elon Musk is authentic, for example, and while that didn’t prevent him from becoming the world’s richest man, there are lots of folks who hate him for what he believes — which people only get to know about in detail because he’s “authentic.” I could write a book on this topic, but, in summary: be careful with just how “transparent” you are in this early phase of your professional life. My embrace of authenticity isn’t for everyone.
Avoid office gossip, and don’t fall into the trap of sharing war stories with others about how you landed the opportunity. Nothing good comes from that.
The days of the $6 sandwich and pop at Shopsy’s deli are long over. You won’t be able to buy a sandwich for under $13, and they’ll jam you for $3.75 for a small box of milk. If you spend $20/day on lunch, plus another $40 getting beers twice a week after work — that $180 of after-tax spend, plus dry cleaning and $7/day for public transit, will give you a good sense of why so many 30 year-olds can’t afford to buy a condo, even if they’re earning $125k.
Coffee culture: you may not have seen this at school. There are a lot of people who “go downstairs” a few times each day and get a $6 Latte or Frap at Starbucks. If you can learn to drink the free stuff at the office, you’ll save a million dollars over the course of your professional career (assuming you invested that $ instead). Don’t make the mistake I did. It’s a good opportunity to network, but you can cart the free stuff with you and accomplish the same thing.
Read the newspaper each day. Watch BNN and CNBC. Be informed. TikTok isn’t sufficient to see you through the day.
If everyone at your new shop goes out for some form of “organized drinks” after work, be cautious if the Glenn Sauntry of your office suggests that everyone tell a joke. The chances of someone not being justifiably offended by one of them are low, given the nature of the jokes you might have heard at school during your last year.
Find yourself some Mentors. It’s likely that they’ll be friend’s of your parents, and that’s normal. The connections have to be natural, but you have no idea how important they’ll end up being to your professional and personal development. Life-changing.
Use LinkedIn, not Instagram. If you meet folks, connect to them — it’s not stalking.
“See” everyone. You’ll pass a lot of people in any given day. Don’t take any of them for granted, regardless of their station in life.
MRM
(this post, like all blogs, is an Opinion Piece)
(photo: Hunter, New York, 1951 by Irving Penn)
Superb advice, Mark, all of it.
On #10, I might add that the "office" coffee in general has improved a lot in the last two decades, and its bad reputation is really something lingering from the distant past.
To combine #10 and #4 (on the commandment to "take it all in), I would also suggest someone in a 2025 summer intern role might pick up more useful insights from colleagues by say 2 visits a day to the coffee machine (and using them as excuses to have quick 5-7 minute chats with various different colleagues) than say from visibly disappearing from one's desk once a week for 45 minutes for a long coffee with one colleague.
As in all things in life - your mileage may vary, and this is not intended as definitively prescriptive advice.
Number 5. LOL but worth writing down your views and reading 5 years later.
Early in my career, I worked as strategist for a high growth bank. The CEO was irritated by his staff around him as they did not want to ruffle his feathers and risk their careers.
I suggested a breakfast with young and new hired staff with a strategic questions session.
One of the questions was “what would you do if you were CEO”. So a bit different than your question. I had deep respect for this CEO as he did listen and did act. It’s now a global bank.