Want to successfully conquer the internship follow-up? Get organized by simply keeping your contacts on hand. It’s as simple as that! Writing as a reformed Excel and Google Docs user, getting organized, once started, simples both your personal and professional lives!
Before I discovered Excel and Google docs, I was wasting crucial time (and often losing track of important email threads!) by having to shift through my inbox to search for dates, phone numbers, names, addresses, etc. I even am ashamed to admit that I have accidentally deleted some essential internship-related emails, thinking I would never need to contact this company again…how wrong I was! This information that was once at the tip of my fingertips is forever to forever to be lost in the depths of Cyberspace, all because I wasn’t keeping a record of my contacts and follow-ups!
No more! Vow from this day forward to get organized with your most valuable internship and job search materials: contact information. By creating a professional contact sheet in Excel or Google docs, never again will you have to go hunting through your inbox, outbox or deleted items to find someone’s alternative email or job title. Start by simply organizing your contacts by company, city, job title and various other information-related headings, such as: telephone number, email, address, etc. Also, log the dates and means to how you contacted this person. Doing this sounds tedious, but helps you stay organized and keep in touch with all of your crucial contacts!
Getting and then staying organized is not only important before and during an internship, but is just as useful after your initial work world experience. You may want to return to this internship at a late date, or land a job with the company some day. Employers won’t be impressed to know that you lost everyone’s contact information (it will appear that your experience was unimportant). Instead, stun your interviewers with your knowledge of their employees and company.
Developing organizational skills before entering the workforce will only help you perform your jobs more efficiently. Finding a way to transition already acquired organizational skills to the office will prove beneficial. Yes, while putting together a professional contact list seems like a heavy undertaking, thinking about the time I’ve saved since it’s creation makes the job worth doing – not to mention that updating the document after its initial creation simplified job hunting!
So, don’t waste another minute of valuable time. Create a personal contact list today. Happy internship hunting! Fellow interns, keep dreaming, keep achieving and don’t let fear hold you back. – Catherine
