How to Crush an Internship

1) Try and get into the office earlier anyone else in your team and leave later. Yeah, it's annoying and yeah, they'll say "face time doesn't matter," but this sort of thing is still expected so you should just do it anyway. Use the time, if you're not doing any work directly assigned to you, to read relevant news / prepare for the next working day.

2) Depending on how long the internship is, try and get regular feedback. Assuming your internship is 10wks long, aim for every 3-4wks or so. This should be a sit-down meeting with your direct manager where they concisely tell you what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong in 30mins or less. Take their feedback onboard and apply it immediately and consistently.

3) Solve problems for your team. Easier said than done, I know, but 90% of your work won't be of much utility to the business (even if you undertake so-called "important" research). The best thing you can do (if you have the competency in VBA or Python) is to automate time consuming manual processes - cleaning data, pulling info from sites, etc.

4) Don't go in with an ego. Regardless of how prestigious a uni you go to etc, the people you work with will likely be more competent. Be willing to do the grunt work and, if they ask, get lunches / coffee. Always good to volunteer for this sort of thing, but don't come across too eager - say you're going out and ask if you can fetch anything for anyone else while you're doing so.

5) Try and get involved in the social side of things. If the team plays 5-a-side football once a week, subtly express an interest and try and get yourself invited. Same deal for weekly drinks. While you're likely to get an invite out of politeness, don't presume this to be the case - you might have to ingratiate yourself. Don't underestimate the value of simply being "liked".

6) When you leave, send an email to your team / those you worked most closely with thanking them for their time, expertise, and patience. Talk about how valuable the opportunity was, how much you learnt, and how eager you'd be to come back if you had the chance (even if this isn't true, it's good to hedge yourself in case you get no SA place elsewhere).

7) Don't gossip or get involved in office politics. There will almost certainly be people you don't get along with or who, for seemingly no reason whatsoever, take a dislike to you and try to make your life that little bit harder. You're only there for a short time, so don't let it get to you - rise above it, remain eager, hold your tongue.