Emma Grubaugh

Client Engagement Intern

Fahlgren Mortine

How to gain trust during an internship

We are all victim to the feeling that summer flies by before you know it.  At an internship, you are trying to build your base, meet new people and work as much as you can.  Before you know it, you’re at your midpoint evaluation and you feel you still haven’t made any significant contributions yet. This was me in the middle of June this summer, and I decided to set one goal for my remaining five weeks: gain trust with my team to ultimately be tasked with more challenging projects and closer work with clients. Building trust is the most important thing you can do if you want higher level work. This can be a hard task to do, but here are some of my tips:

All work should be client-ready

Even if an Excel sheet or quick report is only for internal use, make sure it looks and reads professionally. Quickly adding logos, using brand guidelines and proofreading shows your team that you take your work seriously, understand what writing professionally means and that you care. If it saves them time having to go back and edit, they will feel comfortable having you work on documents that will be sent to clients.

Bring new ideas

At my mid-point evaluation, I was told that I get all my work done, but asked “what more can I do?” One of my favorite pieces of advice from a mentor, Sander Flaum, is “make your boss look good.”  If you can help your boss get ahead and ease up their to-do list, do it. Being proactive and not just going through the motions will build trust.

Be willing to do anything

Never think some of these little things are beneath you.  Be eager and happy to help. Those people who notice this will come back to you with bigger and better projects when they know you’re willing to do any type of work.

Be confident

Don’t think of yourself as just an intern. You are a valuable asset to your team.  Speak up in brainstorms, be engaged in client meetings and bring something to the table. If there is a difficult situation with a client, act calm and handle it. Your team will be impressed with your confidence and feel comfortable with you reaching out to clients directly when you prove your professionalism.

Draw from past experience

If during a touchbase, your manager asks someone to conduct a social audit, don’t be afraid to send a note to that person saying “I’ve worked on a similar project for X, I’m happy to help do research or edit the document if you need it.” Prove that you can take on bigger projects, and slowly but surely, people will pass on work to you.

An internship is the mostly telling interview for a full-time job. Show them that you care and matter. Your 10- or 12-week internship goes by fast so do the little things in the beginning to help you in the end.