As your internship is drawing to a close, it is time to start preparing for your future. As important as it is to make sure to end your internship on the right foot by finishing strong with your work (see last week’s post How To Conclude a Summer Internship and Saying Goodbye to Summer Internships), you must also take the time needed to help yourself and your future career.
As we all know, it is important to finish your internship by sending thank you notes to your boss and other notable co-workers who have helped to shape your internship experience. These notes help to seal off your experience on a positive note in the eyes of the recipients. However, another important thing we all must do in our final weeks is update our contact sheets.
Not to be confused with a list of references, your contact sheet is compiled to help broaden and extend your network within an industry.
Who should be on your contact sheet?
- Other interns
- Your boss(es)
- Anyone else who you have made contact with over the course of your internship, whether that is people in other departments, or anyone you have held a conversation with on behalf of the company
- Name
- Title and company
- Phone number, email, etc. of each contact
- A brief description of how you met/or worked with this person over the course of the internship
- Create a new page or section dividing your contacts according to the internship you met them at (or conference, networking gathering, etc.)
- Alphabetically. It is most simple, and is the easiest way to sort through your contacts quickly.
- Connect with your contacts on LinkedIn
- Every three months or so, send a short email to your contacts updating them on the things you are working on, and to maintain the professional relationship
