The internship checklist: 5 things to do in a summer role

An internship is a great line item for a resume, but more importantly, it's a real-life chance to prototype a career.

Just as employers evaluate interns as potential employees, interns should set aside time to think about if they enjoy the work they’re doing, the culture of the company and their long-term vision for what would be fulfilling to them.

Students who build in regular time to reflect return to campus with a clearer sense of direction.

"Hopefully, they'll be having periodic one-on-one conversations with a supervisor to better understand if they're doing a good job and what skills they're developing, but they should also be thinking, 'Is this going to be a good fit for me in the future?'" said Gabe Dunbar, Ph.D., senior director of Career Design. "The internship is really two things. One is developing skills and experience, but the second is really identifying: 'Is this the job that I want? Is this a company that I can work for?'"

Curiosity is one of the most valuable things an intern can bring to a workplace. No supervisor expects an intern to know everything, so most welcome questions as a sign of initiative and engagement. 

Beyond learning how to do a task, students should ask about the broader context:

• Why does the organization operate this way?
• What challenges is the team currently navigating?
• What does a successful career path look like here? 

Aside from learning about your chosen field, these conversations build relationships, show you’re curious and often lead to mentorship opportunities that go far beyond the first internship.

Students often have three lanes while in college: a job, their classes and applied learning such as co-ops or clinicals. To the surprise of many students, all three experiences can be cohesive and highly valuable in a work setting.

Perhaps a class project gave you experience creating a deliverable or working with a relevant population like patients or K-12 students. Maybe mowing lawns or selling on Etsy taught you the basics of running a small business, or working in food service provided hundreds of hours honing communication skills. Prior work experience may have developed expertise in a particular software, content management system or platform that could be applied now.

By design, BGSU has a long history of embedding work-integrated learning into many courses, providing students with real-world, professional-focused experiences that develop skills before they head off to internships, co-ops and jobs. In 2025, BGSU was one of only eight universities nationwide selected for the National Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Accelerator, a recognition of its ability to prepare students for the workforce.

When considering the full picture of their lives, students begin to see how many skills and abilities they can apply to their current professional opportunity.

"Oftentimes, students see all of those as a separate thing," Dunbar said. "We're trying to reimagine what this experience looks like. Our work-integrated learning strategies blend the work and learning environments."

Internships are prime time to develop the competencies employers need most from new graduates. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) identifies eight career-readiness competencies that are all skills worth developing. Both employers and students rank communication, critical thinking and teamwork among the most important qualities for a candidate to be considered career-ready.

Interns should be intentional about practicing and documenting growth in each area, since the ability to articulate those skills later is what separates competitive candidates from the rest.

“When you really think about what’s important to your role, what are the industry-specific skills that you need every day?” Dunbar said. “We all have our strengths and deficiencies, but the idea, as the name suggests, is to create human skills that are enduring and keep working on them.”  

The relationships built during an internship can be as valuable as any project completed. Students should introduce themselves across departments, attend any optional meetings or events, and stay in touch with colleagues on LinkedIn after the experience ends. 

A supervisor who is impressed by a student's curiosity and work ethic is a future reference, a door-opener or even a hiring manager. Networking can be a long-term investment, and internships offer rare access to a professional community that students should use to its fullest.