Things I wish I knew about being an intern

Alex Woodruff teams up with Murray Dean, a PwC Flying Start student, to outline how to make the most of work experience opportunities.

Firstly, to the readers who have successfully secured an internship or work experience; congratulations! If you are in this boat, you have a wonderful opportunity to kickstart your career journey and develop plenty of your skills. Interns are typically expected by their employers to be experiencing their first taste of the professional world and this puts them in a uniquely favourable position. You have a blank slate from which to make impressions and build relationships, as well as the chance to engage with the functions and culture of a firm without much expectation of prior knowledge.

However, for all the excitement and opportunities interns are exposed to, they should tread carefully when navigating the professional terrain. Therefore, I joined up with Murray Dean, an Accountancy student on the Flying Start course at the University of Nottingham who has gained a combined eight months of experience working as an associate in PwC’s London office as part of his course. Together, we offer some well-founded insights into workplace cultures and valuable advice for interns who want to make the most out of their work experience opportunities, and potentially secure a job offer at the end of a programme.

The best way to ask questions

Often, interns are encouraged to reach out to a wide range of people and ask as many questions as their hearts desire. What better way to show enthusiasm, foster rapport and learn about the job? In reality though, it is not that simple. Here are some tips on how to ask questions the right way:

Try and figure it out yourself first

Having succeeded in the competitive recruitment process, you are expected to be an independent and capable team member. Your senior colleagues will usually be helpful when you come to them with questions, so long as your question is necessary. It is a good demonstration of independence and respect to show that you have tried to solve the problem yourself before asking, so make sure you come prepared with a decent knowledge of the matter. 

Attain workable answers

It sounds obvious, but make sure your questions amount to a specific, actionable takeaway or instruction. Sometimes it may take a few attempts to convey exactly what you are after, but persevere until you get your answer; the last thing you want to do is ask the same question twice. It is helpful to note down your question and then the answer with pen and paper or on a device as soon as possible, to ensure you remember details and are in the best position to implement your colleagues' advice. If you can master the art of asking the right questions and putting the feedback into practice, you will make progress swiftly.

Notwithstanding, there may be occasions where you do not quite understand something that your manager has explained to you. In this case, it may be wise to refrain from telling them you don’t get it straight away. Go away and think it over some more to see if you can make sense of it. If needs be, ask a different Associate for clarification. Interns should realize that, whilst they are not expected to have any prior knowledge, they are expected to pick things up fairly quickly.

Tailor your questions to specific colleagues

Even within a small team, every member will have an area of expertise or speciality. Before directing your question, consider who in the team is best-placed to answer it, instead of keeping just one person as your go-to for questions. This will elicit more useful, enthusiastic responses and greatly benefit your rapport with individuals and the team as a whole.

Murray cites an experience where new interns repeatedly asked highly technical questions to high-ranking managers. Be aware that the detail-heavy, more technical aspects of project work are often handled by less senior Associates, so these are whom technical queries should be directed to. Managers usually prefer to think on a higher-level about company strategy or culture. Moreover, managers should not be approached with basic questions; save those for Associates, in order to maintain a conscientious and capable image of yourself in your manager's eyes - they are probably the ones who will have the most influence as to whether you receive a return job offer. 

Be considerate

As an intern, your new colleagues will generally be happy to help you. However, it is crucial to remember that they are taking time out of their busy schedules to do you a favour, so do not take them for granted and do not overuse this privilege. In a fast-paced work environment where your needs are typically less urgent than those of your colleagues, they will greatly appreciate it if you take the time to consider this and try and work around their busy schedules. 

Having the right mind-set

Good Attitude

Internships are a ‘grace period’ where you are not expected to know all the answers. Despite this, you will be expected to engage and learn as much as possible. In this situation, a good attitude is perhaps the best way to show that you are a worthy team member. This means being enthusiastic, interested and showing keen initiative in all situations. The more you show this, the more attention and responsibility you seniors will want to give you. Relish every challenge you are assigned with as an opportunity to prove yourself.

Do the groundwork well

What a manager needs from an associate or intern is someone who can be relied upon to do work on time and to a good standard. Do not worry too much about trying to come up with novel ideas. A great way to get tasks done quicker is to improve your Microsoft Excel skills. Then you can begin to specialise in specific Excel functions that are the most helpful to what you do. Murray, for instance, worked with financial statements, and so needed to be able to use functions such as Index Match. For people who analyse data using graphs, ‘pivot tables’ are especially key. Some interns initially find technical tasks on new programs to be daunting, particularly ones involving coding or extensive calculations. However, this type of work is often an associate’s bread and butter, so be prepared to go outside your comfort zone to develop your effectiveness. 

Presentation and quality of work

It is important to make your final work as polished and presentable as possible, whether it is a PowerPoint, a calculation, or a written report. Making your final output slick and clear makes it much easier for your seniors to quickly understand what it is you are trying to get across. Some of the work you produce may be circulated and referred back to several times, so take pride in what you produce and how it looks. Don’t be tempted to take shortcuts or rush work that you initially think seems simple; adopt the attitude that you will be judged on every piece of work, and make sure that you maintain high standards, so that the work you produce reflects well upon yourself, and hopefully takes you a step closer to landing a job offer.