Internship to paid

[Maribel]

What’s the best way to turn your internship into a paid opportunity?

Obviously excelling at your position, but is there anything else you can do to provide perceived and actual value so you can ensure a role in the company will open up for you?

Changing industries from advertising to marketing feels like a big hurdle to cross.

Discussion

[Janet]

One of the best ways to turn an internship into a paid position – at the same company – is to find out if there are hiring plans or a need for marketing roles in the near future. If there’s a certain budget set for staff, marketing, etc. then it’s hard for an employer to suddenly create a new role, even if you (as an intern) are excellent.

One way to find out what the staffing and budgeting plans are is to ask “I love working here! Are there any plans to create a full-time position for what I’m doing in the near future? Or are there places you know internally that can use my talents?” That sends a clear signal that you’re interested and it plants a seed, in your manager’s mind, so that they may contact you if there’s an opportunity.

[Colette]

Echoing what’s already been said here and chiming in with what I have observed based on my experience with a few organizations I’ve worked for who had robust internship programs. Inevitably, if the intern really demonstrates star quality — in terms of performance, cultural fit, curiosity, etc. — even if the department for which the intern is currently working doesn’t have a full-time role to fill, often the organization will not want to lose strong talent and will work to find another suitable internal opportunity. For example, one college intern started in a marketing for HR and when he graduated ended up in corporate marketing role for the same company.