Business Careers
Getting the internship is half of it. The weeks themselves decide what you carry away.
A student who has secured a summer internship or project often drifts through it, doing whatever is asked, and leaves with a certificate and a vague memory. This session is for students who already have one coming. It covers what to agree in the first days, how to work with a manager, how to present the result and how to describe it later without inflating it.
Explore this page6 sections
The same six weeks can produce very different outcomes.
A summer internship or project is the main business evidence many students will have when they sit placement interviews. Some employers use internships to look at people they may later hire, and some do not; an intern cannot control that. What an intern can control is whether they leave with a piece of work they can explain, a manager who can speak about them and a record of what they did.
This session assumes the student already has an internship. How to find one, and what to look for in one, is covered by the session on Internships: Finding One, and Making It Count. This one starts on the first day.
The weeks, in order
34 topics across 7 areas. Seven stages from before the first day to after the last.
Before You StartA little preparation changes the first week.5
- Reading about the company, its products and its customers
- Understanding the function you will sit in
- Asking the college and the company what paperwork is required
- Planning how to get to and from work on time
- Agreeing what you can and cannot say publicly about the work
The First Week: Agree the ScopeWithout a defined task, the weeks fill up with errands.5
- Asking what a successful internship looks like to your manager
- Writing a half-page scope: the question, the deliverable and the date
- Finding out who to ask for data, tools and approvals
- Understanding how the team works and who your stakeholders are
- Confirming the scope in writing, and updating it when it changes
Many internships are vague on purpose or by accident. A written scope turns a vague one into a project.
Working With a ManagerReliable and easy to supervise.5
- A short weekly update: done, next, stuck
- Asking after trying, with what you tried
- Bringing bad news early
- Asking for feedback during the internship, not at the end
- Respecting the manager's time and the team's norms
Doing the WorkWhere the actual learning is.5
- Breaking the project into small steps and finishing each
- Checking numbers and sources before sharing them
- Keeping a dated log of what you did
- Handling confidential information as the company requires
- Using AI tools only as the company permits, and checking what they produce
Seeing More Than Your TaskA small internship in a big idea.4
- Asking to sit in on a meeting or a call, where allowed
- Speaking to people in two or three other roles
- Understanding how your work connects to revenue or cost
- Learning a tool or process the team uses every day
The Final Presentation and ReportHow the work is judged by people who were not watching.5
- Answering the question you were asked, in the first slide
- Three findings and a recommendation
- Numbers with their sources
- Practice with a colleague before presenting
- Anticipating the questions a senior will ask
After the Last DayWhere most of the value is kept or lost.5
Not every good intern gets an offer, and many employers do not hire from their interns. A student who has done solid work still gains a project, a reference and a clearer idea of what they want.
- Asking in the last week for feedback and whether they would act as a reference
- Asking, honestly, about full-time roles, and accepting the answer
- Thanking the people who helped, in writing
- Describing the work on a resume and in interviews: what you did, what came of it
- Not sharing anything the company has not allowed
Tools the session provides
- A half-page scope template
- A weekly update format
- A log template
- A checklist for the last week
- A prompt sheet for describing the internship in an interview
When it is going badly
- No work assigned: how to ask for a project
- A manager who is always busy: how to make asking easy
- Work that is not what was promised: who to speak to first
- Anything that feels unsafe or inappropriate: tell the college's internship coordinator, and know the company's complaints route
How the session runs
A manager or other person who has supervised interns explains what they look for in the first week and at the end, then students write a half-page scope for their own internship, practise a weekly update in pairs and prepare to describe the work. Students who do not yet have an internship may attend, but the session is written for those who do.
What your students leave with
- A written scope and a deliverable agreed in the first week
- A weekly routine for updating a manager
- Ways to ask for access, data and help without becoming a burden
- A final presentation or report that answers the question that was asked
- A tidy, permitted record of the work for later use
- A way of asking, in the last week, about references and full-time roles
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Plan the weeks, and you carry away more than a certificate.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.