End-of-Internship Reflection & Follow Up Guide

Now that you have completed your internship, the Center for Career Design hopes that you found your experience to be a valuable opportunity to build skills, connect with mentors, and explore a potential career path. Internships are one of the best ways to prototype or test a career direction in a real-world setting.

Now is a great time to reflect on your experience: what you have learned, what you discovered about yourself and your field, and how you want to make the most of your experience.

Use these questions to reflect of your personal and professional growth:

  • Did this experience help you reflect on personal strengths and areas for improvement?
  • Did it impact your career aspirations and goals?
  • What did you learn from this experience? Is that what you expected to learn?
  • What did you find unexpected about this experience?
  • Did you develop specific skills and competencies?
  • What insights did you gain about the field/industry?
  • Do you want to further your education or training?
  • How will you leverage this experience?
  • How will this help with your plans moving forward?
  • What are your immediate next steps after the internship?
  • Have your career aspirations been influenced by this experience?
  • Are there additional skills or knowledge to pursue moving forward?
  • Has it helped shape where you would like to work or next intern?

Use these questions to determine what employer might be right for your future career:

  • What was a highlight of your experience?
  • What was a lowlight of your experience?
  • What did the organization do well? 
  • Did they do comprehensive onboarding? 
  • What did they do poorly?
  • Do you want to pursue a full-time position at the same organization?
  • Do you want to explore other opportunities in the same or different field? 

Record your professional experience and any additional accomplishments as soon as possible. 

  • How would you describe this experience on your resume? Make sure to add the job to your resume and/or CV.
  • Does the organization have a job description? Start here to ensure you don’t miss anything. Then turn the descriptions of your tasks into accomplishments. 
  • Can you add this experience to your LinkedIn?
  • Can you post on LinkedIn with a “Thank you” to the company and your colleagues? Tag the company and anyone you worked with.
  • Update your resume with your achievements, skills, and projects.
  • Highlight the impact and results of your work, not just the duties and responsibilities. 
  • Use action verbs, quantifiable metrics, and relevant keywords. 
  • Later, you can tailor your resume to the specific job or industry you are targeting.
  • Add Center for Career Design Internship Funding as an award on your resume.

Make sure to send “Thank You” notes and follow up with everyone you met to solidify the relationships that you started!

Visit the Center for Career Design to:

Act quickly to ensure you solidify your relationships and don’t lose any of your professional momentum. Build your network! Follow up with your contacts, update your resume, and plan how you can use this experience in the future!