As I complete my graduate studies, I’m taking time to reflect on my MBA experience. This post will discuss key takeaways from my internship experience during my first and second years in the UF MBA Program. This information should be helpful to prospective interns and recent college graduates who are establishing the first stepping stones of their careers (quite frankly, industry veterans can glean insights from these takeaways as well).
This past summer, I interned within ExxonMobil’s Human Resources team. As a byproduct of this experience, I offer five pieces of advice for all those who are beginning their careers, as well as those who need a reminder on what they can leverage to better mold their current career paths:
1) Be proactive.
In any new environment, you will be challenged to adapt quickly and acclimate. If you are proactive in managing expectations with your team, reaching out for help, and prioritizing your activities, you will allow yourself to either fail forward (in other words, fail quickly, learn from failure, and transform it into success) or quickly outperform initial expectations.
2) Communicate.
Just like communication is the key to any personal relationship, communication is key in developing working relationships with your team. In order to manage expectations with your team, or reach out for help (a.k.a. being proactive), you MUST communicate with relevant stakeholders. Communication includes active listening, emotional intelligence, and effective message delivery.
3) Align with stakeholders.
Before starting new projects or engaging new initiatives, you want to align your understanding, expectations, and actions with stakeholders. Stakeholders, which include your team, end users, and upper management, will possess knowledge, experience, and guidance that offer you context and potential value-add for your new projects and initiatives. As you continually prepare for and pursue your projects, continually realign with stakeholders for continued insight and guidance.
4) Be open to feedback.
How do you realign with stakeholders throughout the course of a project? ASK for their feedback! And don’t just ask for it … be open to it! People who are agreeable and open typically work well within teams and, consequently, provide undeniable value in project work. Solicit continued feedback from project stakeholders to readjust your deliverables and objectives as needed. Additionally, be open to feedback regarding your own performance. Feedback can be humbling at times, but in the end, it always provides us with some level of insight that we can leverage to better ourselves, our projects, and our teams.
5) Ask questions.
It’s very hard to find answers if you don’t ask questions. Asking questions allows you to be proactive and establish a network early on. Asking questions allows you to communicate with others and connect with them on a deeper level. To align with stakeholders, you must ask for their perspective. And as you seek feedback from these stakeholders, you must actively ask them for feedback.
Asking intelligent, appropriate questions will differentiate you from your peers. Asking intelligent, appropriate questions signals that you are engaged in the conversation at hand, are actively listening, and are seeking a higher level of understanding. These signals indicate your readiness to take on new ideas, projects, and roles. Don’t ever be afraid to ask questions – what is there to fear?
Be proactive. Communicate. Align with stakeholders. Be open to feedback. Ask questions.
Whether you’re an intern, a new graduate, or an industry veteran, I implore you to leverage these five takeaways to your advantage. All five takeaways will serve you in how you tackle new challenges and projects, in how you connect with others, and in how you develop over time. Don’t wait any longer to start over, or to start again, or to simply start … you must ACT NOW (be proactive) and allow yourself to initiate the four remaining takeaways, in whatever form they may take in your life, whether at work, at play, or at home.
