Looking for an Internship? Three Steps You Can Take to Stand Out
People can work remotely from nearly anywhere in the world today, creating a broad market for internships and giving businesses a large, diverse pool of young bright minds to hire. With more options comes increased competition. In today’s market, how can internship candidates make an impression?
- Good Communication
For an intern, one of the most important abilities to display to a potential employer is good communication. This may seem difficult when applying to a remote position, but luckily there are many ways to communicate that do not require being in the same room. Business forward social media such as LinkedIn allow people to connect and keep up with company news and updates. Before you even get to your interview, you can utilize LinkedIn by following the HealthEdge page and connecting with employees at the company.
- Enthusiasm
Many people believe the most critical quality for a candidate is experience. For an intern, that is not the E word employers are necessarily looking for. “We don’t expect anyone to have a lot of experience coming in; we’re not looking necessarily for prior internships,” says Kelly Finn, Manager of Talent Attraction at HealthEdge.
The best trait you can put forward in your interviews is enthusiasm. “The things that we specifically look for are: are they inquisitive? Do they want to learn? Do they have good questions?” Finn says.
According to HealthEdge Vice President of Talent Attraction, Katie Conti, the best traits you can display in your interview are curiosity, motivation and friendliness. “I’ll tell my team, half-jokingly, ‘Don’t bring any jerks in.’ Bring in nice people who are interested in being here, who are going to be enthusiastic and eager to learn,” she says.
- Research
The next step is proving you’ve done your research. An informed, engaged, and confident applicant stands out among the rest when all other aspects of a candidate are evenly matched.
When asked where to begin the research process, Finn suggested starting with the website, “just poke around the different pages so you can get a sense for what the company does.”
“We don’t expect you to be able to sell the company…but we do expect that you’ve looked at the website and understand generally what we do,” says Conti. Interviews are not meant to be a quiz but knowing this information can only help you come across as more confident and serious about the potential role.
Knowing enough that you can engage in the conversation, rather than just asking questions from a prepared list, is also one way to stand out because it proves you’re curious and informed. Let your questions come from the conversation and your interviewer will be impressed. You want to make sure they can tell you don’t want a job; you want their job.
For HealthEdge, ensuring your values align with the company’s is incredibly important. Excellence, collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation, and diversity are part of the core principles at HealthEdge, and if those are things you see yourself feeling at home with, I urge you to apply. I always knew I wanted an internship before entering the “real” workforce, but I wanted to be able to make my contribution this summer matter—a place where I could make a difference, and HealthEdge gave that to me.
