Participating in an internship is meaningful.
However, if you just participate without thinking or planning you will not receive 100% benefits of the internship.
One of my students who I helped in getting an internship in an Oil & Gas company once told me that he had a very good relationship with his mentor. It helped him during his Internship and also helped him get a job in the same organization.
In this blog I want to share few important points about what kind of relationship should you have with your mentor and how it can be rewarding for you in your career? So let us dive into.
Build a close relationship with your mentor:
Every intern is inseparable from their Mentor from the company. In the first place, the value of participating in an internship depends on how much experience you can gain within a fixed period of time. A mentor is in an important position because of his years of experiences.
Here, I will focus on who is a mentor is and what kind of relationship you should build with them.
a) First of all, who is a mentor?
- A mentor is someone who guides you at work and even during your internships.
- Interns who share great relationships with their mentor get a lot of help and support from them.
- Now many companies offer internship to young college graduates. Due to this, mentoring as a system in many companies has been introduced.
- Companies that offer internships are no exception to this. In fact, many companies introduce mentors precisely because they accept interns.
- A mentor is in charge of direct training of an intern. They provide them with a variety of information, related to work and guide them so that to get a Job.
- The quality of your internship will vary greatly depending on how well you build a relationship with this mentor.
b) The relationship you should build with your mentor:
- We have talked about the importance of the mentor position, but by now you should have understood that you should build a close and high-quality relationship with your mentor. Above all else, your goal should be to build a relationship of trust with your mentor.
- Sometimes you may receive harsh words from him / her and you may feel angry on him. I want you to keep this in mind that they really care for you and they have high expectations for you. So they will always demand more from you .You must just be respectful towards your mentor even if they scold you.
- As humans, the less we trust someone, the more we tend to form a superficial, casual relationship with them. So get your mentor to take you seriously, so that you get a lot of support from him.
- Benefits of having a relationship with a mentor:
- Just knowing who is a mentor and what kind of relationship you as an intern should have with your mentor is not enough for you .This information alone won't help you understand why you have to work so hard to build a high-quality relationship.
Now let me share with you the benefits you can get by building a close relationship with a mentor.
a) Expanding the range of work you can do
- The biggest benefit you can get by strengthening your relationship of trust with your mentor is that you will be able to expand the range of tasks you can be assigned at the internship site.
- An internship is a place to gain work experience. By learning through actual work, you can get to know society and the company. In the first place, during an internship, you can do some of the work that employees are actually doing, but it is rare that you will be entrusted with important work or work that requires responsibilities.
- However, it is no exaggeration to say that the company's original work methods and essence are hidden in many responsible work. The value of participating in an internship will vary greatly depending on whether or not you get a chance to a kind of work which gives you best exposure and high responsibility.
- If you develop strong relationship of trust with your mentor then you will compel them to help and support you .This may lead you to get tasks that other interns would never get to work on.
- Even though they are mentors, they are only human beings, so it is natural for them to want those they trust and those who are working hard to grow even more.
- By gaining recognition from those closest to you, you will have a chance to be recognized in a wider range of circles in the future.
b) Can be used for job hunting after internship:
- With your mentor’s support interns can increase their range of work along with experience and skills. This will be of great advantage for you when it comes to job hunting later on.
- The opportunity to work in the company where your interned increase because your mentor can give positive information about you to your hiring manager.
Summary:
- We have looked at the benefits of having a mentor during an internship and deepening that relationship. There were a lot of stories that were a bit unhelpful, but the important thing is not to waste the time and opportunities given to you.
- Not doing so when you have the opportunity to build a relationship of trust is nothing but negligence. There is no guarantee that the exact same opportunity will come around again.
- Whether you cry or laugh, your job search will start once you become a fourth year university student. At that time, how smoothly can you get off to a start, and how far ahead of others can you start? It all depends on your efforts and commitment.
