Due date: 5th week

Purpose: To get to know a colleague and learn from their experience and perspective

Instructions: Interview a professional at your internship (who is not your supervisor, lead/mentor, or another intern) and learn about his/her story. In a 30-minute interview, ask questions such as:

• How did you get to your current position? What has been your career path up until now? 
• What do you like most about your job? 
• What is the most valuable advice you have received? 
• What advice would you give to those who are looking to break into this field?
• What skills do you look for when hiring employees?

On the Canvas page, provide the interviewee’s name, position and contact information, as well as two key takeaways from the interview and how those will be applied to his/her professional development.

Due date: 9th week

Purpose: To reflect on your professional growth over the internship, as well as synthesize and articulate your internship tasks/accomplishments in an interview using the STAR (Situation – Task – Action – Results) method

Instructions: Consider the learning objectives you chose in assignment #1 and select TWO significant internship experiences where you used or developed those skills/knowledge. For example, these experiences might be the management of a project/team or an unexpected challenge that occurred. Bear in mind that the experience could be a setback or a failure, as these can be rich opportunities for learning and professional development.

For each significant internship experience, tell the story using the STAR format, as if you were at a behavioral interview with a prospective employer.

• Situation: Describe the context within which you performed a job or specific project that you were assigned to work on.
• Task: Describe your responsibility in that situation. What were you supposed to do? What were the goals or objectives?
• Actions: Describe how you completed the task or how you fulfilled the goal.
• Results: Explain the outcomes or results generated by the action taken. What happened? What did you learn? What made it memorable for you?

Due date: 10th week

Purpose: To find value in completing exit interviews and assessments with supervisors; to understand growth and build awareness about professional skills and development

Instructions: (two parts):

1. Print the Employer Evaluation, have your supervisor/lead complete it, and schedule a meeting to discuss it with him/her. Upload the signed copy into Canvas to earn credit.
2. Reflect on your overall internship experience through a one-page reflection (0.5” margins, 11pt Arial, double-spaced). Respond to the following prompts:
   • What stood out to you during your evaluation?
   • What skills will you further try to develop to be effective in your next workplace?
   • What did you notice about diversity (e.g., age, gender, culture) in the workplace? How does that affect your attitude about your potential professional success?
   • How did prior experiences (e.g., academics, activities, work experience) prepare you for this internship?
   • How is this particular internship experience valuable to you as you proceed with post-graduate plans? What next steps will you be taking to explore careers, build experience, and/or develop a network?