Developed by Jacqueline Murphy from Level365
The guide below lays out a series of meeting topics and assignments to help interns learn and grow. Through interactive exercises, teamwork, and goal setting, this guide aims to create a supportive environment where everyone can contribute to each other's success. The rest of their journey is in your hands. Best of luck, and make the most of their internship experience.
Week 1
5-Finger Activity
Go in a circle and list off the following one finger at a time:
Thumb – Greatest Professional Strength (Hard and/or Soft Skill)
Index – Where you see yourself after graduating/in a few years
Middle – Greatest Weakness
Ring – Something (a goal) you want to accomplish while working here
Pinky – A Passion of yours (in or outside of business)
The purpose of asking these questions is not just to learn more about each other but how everyone can support each other, achieve goals and be a resource in each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Assignment: SMART Goals
Specific | Determine what the department/organization needs to accomplish, what steps they need to take to achieve these goals, and whom they need to include to make it happen. |
Measurable | Quantifiable numbers that make it easy to say whether they’ve accomplished it. |
Achievable | Considering their current level of knowledge, resources, and time restraint with a regular workload, can they realistically accomplish this goal given their time restraint, knowledge, and resources? |
Relevant | Does this have to do with their work/role at the organization, and would it encourage learning/improving their skill set? |
Time-Bound | You should set a timeframe for when they need to complete each step, when they expect to finish it, when the team will implement it, and when they’ll measure its success (and adjust). |
See this page for more of an explanation of SMART Goals.
Week 2 – REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS & ROSE, THORN, BUD
Rose, Thorn, Bud
What has been the best part of your internship/week so far (the rose), the worst part (the thorn), and what are you looking forward to (the bud)?
Week 3
Teamwork/Leadership/Follower
Name a person who defines teamwork, someone who defines leadership, and someone who defines a good follower.
This assignment aims to recognize the similarities between a teammate, a follower, and a leader. To be a good leader, you need to be a great follower. Leaders or mentors can be found anywhere and for different functions. Look to your coworkers, for example!
Assignment: Grab Lunch with a Different Coworker that you don’t typically work with.
Optional: Then write social media posts about that person introducing them to your company’s LinkedIn audience. (If you think you’ll use it, ask the coworker for more pictures that further explain their description.)
Week 4 – REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS & ROSE, THORN, BUD
Week 5
Describe Organization Activity
If someone asked, “What does [your organization] do?,” how would you respond in one to three sentences? What if someone asked what you do there?
*give them a few minutes, then ask everyone to read their statements aloud.*
Ask them what they thought of each other’s statements and if there’s anything they want to include in their own statement. Now read your own description.
The point of this exercise is to verbalize what the organization does and give them pointers on how to improve it.
Assignment: Elevator Speech (in 2-3 sentences), Cocktail Party Speech (one quick sentence) & Noble Purpose (The organization’s reason for being minus the money–have them break it into why, how, and what first before they write it all into one statement).
Week 6 – REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS & ROSE, THORN, BUD
Week 7
Webinar
Pick and ask them to attend a Webinar/Video that touches on their field before this meeting (ideally 20 to 40 minutes), then talk about it. Ask if they learned anything new.
Here are some of my favorites:
At the end of this meeting, schedule a mid-internship review
Assignment: Individual/Intern Project + Review Smart Goals
Week 8 – Mid-internship Reviews
A mid-internship review allows the intern to hear the feedback they need to be as successful as possible and to hear of any concerns or ways the company can improve the internship before it’s over.
Before this meeting, come up with compliments and constructive criticism for ways they can improve the rest of the semester and ask them to fill out a mid-internship form ahead of time and bring it to the meeting. In this meeting, you read through their filled review form, review their SMART Goals, and give them feedback.
Week 9
Setting Up for the Future
Explain ways to Improve LinkedIn and Resume
Remove graduation year from LinkedIn and Resume
Flush all dates to the right on your resume so it's easier to read
Add keywords under all your jobs that relate to that role/what role you want (helps companies search them better) on LinkedIn
Change your headline on LinkedIn
Change to be: ‘Role/Department/What you do | Keywords of your ideal future role | impressive fact or quick explanation to how you are a high achiever’
Ex: “Storyteller ☁︎ Brand Development & Management, Brand Strategy, Lead Marketing Campaigns ☁︎ Independently Redesigned Brand Guidelines for B2B Tech Company”
You can use icons, lines, or emojis to break up your text.
Bonus:
Add a 10-second elevator pitch of yourself using the pronunciation button on LinkedIn on the mobile app.
Add a video to your profile picture on the mobile app.
Assignment: Review your LinkedIn profile to see what needs to be updated and update your resume with current information.
BONUS: Write a practice cover letter
Week 10 – REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS & ROSE, THORN, BUD
Week 11***
Advice
What is the best advice you’ve gotten recently? *give them 2 minutes to think about it*
Assignment: Grab lunch with a coworker you don’t typically work with. Then write social media posts about that person introducing them to your company’s LinkedIn audience. (If you think you’ll use it, ask the coworker for more pictures that further explain their description.)
***Anything with asterisks can be forgoed if the internship doesn’t last a full 14 weeks.
Week 12*** – REVIEW ASSIGNMENTS & ROSE, THORN, BUD
Week 13***
B2B Tech Tech Industry
Before working here, what was your perception of the Tech industry as a career? Has it changed? Why don't people follow B2B Companies on Social Media?
Assignment: Rewrite the organization’s mission statement and develop a list of 5 of its values, each from your own perspective and experience.
Week 14
Closing Meeting
In-meeting reflection without topic agenda.
Schedule exit interviews and give them the questionnaire you want them to complete.
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