Using Internship Downtime For Something More Than Facebook

By Elana Goodwin on August 30, 2016

During most internships, there’s bound to be some downtime at some point — and when there is, most interns are likely to use that time to go on Facebook. Of course, while that may be a fun and relaxing way to spend your free time during your internship, you could be using your spare moments more productively and even to get ahead at your internship. Here are a few ideas of what you can do at your internship during your free time instead of scrolling through Facebook.

Photo Credit: Pexels.com

Do Work for School. If your internship is taking place during the school year, using your free time to get work done would be the most productive way to spend your downtime. You can complete reading assignments online, do research for a paper coming up, respond to discussion questions, take online quizzes, study for a test, and more so that you’ll have that much less to do once you’re done at your internship for the day. You probably have and use a computer at work so if you know you’ll have some time to do other things at your internship, make sure to either email yourself whatever you’re working on, save it to a file-sharing service, or bring it with you on a USB.

Read Up On Current Events. With so much going on in the world, it can be hard to stay current on the news — so your internship downtime may be just the opportunity to educate yourself on the world’s affairs and read up about what’s happening. Obviously, you can just catch up on whatever particular category of news is most interesting to you — Entertainment, Technology, Sports, etc. — but you may want to broaden your horizons a bit and read about US and Global news so you’ll be more aware of what’s going on in the world at large, and not just what’s happening or posted about on Facebook.

Update Your Resume. When you have some spare time at your internship, you may want to devote it to updating your resume. You should keep your resume current, with details of your most recent jobs, internships, achievements, education, and more, as it makes it easier for you to then apply to other internships and jobs during the year. It’s much simpler to revise your resume as you’re employed at new positions and gain new skills so that you can best and most accurately describe your jobs and duties. Additionally, you can also use your internship downtime to update your LinkedIn profile with information about your internship, activities, and school organizations you’re a part of.

Look For Jobs. Unless you’re completing your internship during the school year or it’s going to continue through the semester, you may want to use your spare time to look for an on-campus or local job for the fall. Most other college students won’t start looking for a part-time job they can work during school until they arrive on campus for the semester, so you can get a jumpstart on the job search and potentially secure your semester employment before your peers.

Shadow Other Departments. For those of you who have an internship at a large company, perhaps there’s another department besides the one you’re working for that you’re interested in or would like to learn more about. Ask your supervisor if it’d be possible for you to spend your spare time shadowing an employee in another department, asking them questions, or sitting in on their department’s meetings so you can see more of what they do at the company. By doing this, you’ll get a fuller idea of how the company functions as a whole and understand how your contributions as an intern help the overall business.

Ask for More. Once you’ve completed whatever tasks are assigned to you, show initiative and ask your supervisor what else you can do and if there’s any way further way you can help. By doing this, you’ll not only show your dedication to your internship, but your willingness to do whatever you can and to go above and beyond. Your supervisor will definitely be impressed by your ambition and will recall how driven and devoted your were when it comes to writing you a glowing recommendation letter in the future.

Sometimes you just need to take a break and relax when you get the chance at your internship, so don’t feel bad if all you want to do is go on Facebook when you have downtime.

And if you don’t want to go on Facebook, be productive, or do one of the above mentioned activities, you can always go on Twitter! Hey, it’s not Facebook, right?

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