Many of Darden’s Class of 2009 have started their summer internships, with a full week or two under their belts. I’d like to suggest that now is the perfect time to revise your MBA resume and write the bullet points that you seek to achieve through your summer experience.
In order to be able to write these bullet points, you must shape your summer, and now is the time – not halfway through the summer when you have less ability to influence the outcome. Here are three suggestions:
- Focus your projects on the outcomes
- Create diversity of skill development
- Enroll others in your success
Focus on Outcomes
As you define your projects (with or without your supervisor), think about how you will write the resume bullet points for that project. Will you be able to use action verbs and words like “delivered”, “achieved” and “accomplished”? Think about the impact you are making and how you will describe the impact in one to two sentences. If you think about this now, it will help you shape your action plans and timelines. Conversely, if you cannot envision the outcomes now, then you can easily meander through the summer without accomplishments that you can use on your resume.
Create Diversity of Skill Development
As you select or define projects, make sure you have projects that help you develop a diverse set of skills—especially the skills that you will want to discuss in interviews next year. Of course, you will want to know the “buyers’ needs” of the full-time position you will be seeking in order to know exactly what those skills are, but in general, you want a diversity of skill development. Make sure you have a project that has a strategic component as well as an executional component. Make sure your project is analytical as well as creative. Finally, make sure your project allows you to develop and demonstrate your soft skills like oral and written communication and project management.
Enroll Others in Your Success
Finally, I encourage you to enroll others in your success. Many interns who don’t get offers often reflect that they did not build alliances across the organization as they should have. They often ate lunch alone at their desks, working diligently to stay ahead on their project. Don’t let that be you. Take the opportunities throughout the summer to get to know as many constituents as you can. Get to know the Darden alumni throughout the organization, even if they do not work in your area. Get to know the senior people in your area. If appropriate, ask for time on their calendar to learn what they do and what their key concerns are. Also, get to know the cross-functional people that work on your business. Make sure you show interest in what they do and how you can help them be successful. Lastly, get to know the other interns. Be an informal leader of the group if appropriate. Help the group have a great summer and be successful.