How To Ace Your GIS Internship
You have cleared all your units. Now one more task remains before graduation; a GIS internship, as it is required for one to get practical skills in the business world to graduate. After months and months of searching, one organization decides to give you a chance. Now is your time to shine. How do you ace this GIS internship?
This is the perfect opportunity to get into the market, one shot, three months. You need to impress so that you can secure a full-time job. It is paramount that you show the company that you are the one for the job.
Keep in mind that most professionals start their careers as interns. No one got a managerial job straight out of university with a degree and no experience. This is the perfect launching pad, but how can one ensure that it all goes well in this GIS internship?
An internship is defined as a short-term work experience offered by companies and other organizations to people, usually students, but not always to get some entry-level exposure to a particular industry or field. It is as much of a learning experience as it is work.
Indeed states that an internship is important because it can present you with new skills and opportunities that you may not receive otherwise. Interns gain technical knowledge within the industry of their choice by working directly with professionals in that field.
Internships are a great opportunity to know your strengths and weaknesses; they are things that you will not learn in the classroom. This is where internships come into play; a real-world experience kind of situation where you get to learn practical lessons about adaptability, time management, team work, communication, and innovation.
Students who put themselves forward for an internship show that they are willing to take responsibility, work hard, want to learn, and are interested in getting experience. These are all qualities that hiring managers are interested in, and this helps you differentiate yourself in a competitive job market.
No matter how successful you were in your internship, you can hold your head up high and explain what you learned and what responsibilities you had.
Here is how you can ace a GIS internship and secure the job.
Solutions- Come to the internship with solutions. What GIS solutions are you going to offer to the company. This could be fresh, innovative ways of collecting data, new open source GIS software, e.t.c. Solutions will make you stand out from the rest of the cohort.
Team Work- The internship will require a lot of teamwork. This will help you learn how to work with people. The success of the internship is dependent on how you interact with others. Teamwork is important.
Knowledgeable-Show how knowledgeable you are on GIS skills. Word will spread around that you are a GIS guru. This will give you a competitive edge among your peers, because the organization is looking for knowledge.
Emotional intelligence- According to psychology today, emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is generally said to include a few skills: namely emotional awareness, or the ability to identify and name one’s own emotions; the ability to harness those emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving;
This will help you deal with a challenging situation without succumbing to the pressure.
Avoid office politics- It can be tempting to get into office politics as an intern, but please stay away from it as this will come back to bite you in the back. Just stick to your lane and do what brought you there. It will speak volumes about you if you choose to engage in office politics.
Communicate- Coomunication is a skill that will take you very far during this internship, especially if it is a project you have been assigned. Learn how to communicate clearly, concisely, and purposefully.
Be positive- Bring that positive vibe into the organization. There is something special about being around somebody who has positive vibes. People will want to be around you.
According to Forbes, keeping a positive attitude isn’t just good for your health. Martin Seligman has also studied the connection between positivity and performance. In one study in particular, he measured the degree to which insurance salespeople were optimistic or pessimistic in their work. The optimists outperformed the pessimists by a wide margin.
Do the work- Prepare to do the work. Work like there is no tomorrow, work like your life depends on it, work as if you are in jail, work like somebody is trying to take it from you. Just work and make no excuses.
If you are an intern, I hope you ace it and get a full-time job. With proper planning and preparation, this is going to be the most memorable experience of your entire life. Follow these principles and I assure you, all will be well.
