Getting Ready for Your Mentor (4)

This week I learned about the seven strategies to get the most from your experience. The seven strategies are be professional, show enthusiasm, immerse yourself, always do your best work, take initiative, network!, network! network!, and build your portfolio. Being professional mainly means to dress according to how others are dressing. In order for you to gain respect from the team you are working with you need to dress according to their standards and put time and effort into your appearance. First impressions are everything. Showing enthusiasm is one of the major characteristics that I need to develop as a volunteer. Having a positive attitude allows for your mentor to know you are willing and ready to learn about his or her career. Showing excitement will make the mentor excited to see you every day. Getting to really know your area of study is also very important. Immerse yourself with the “culture” of your internship. Study vocabulary terms that relate to the topic or ask a lot of questions retaining to a specific subject matter. Doing your best work is something anyone should be doing at home, at school, and at the internship. An internship is not a place where you sit back and relax, you need to take notes and make sure you are documenting any detail that could further your studies. Initiative is also a very important aspect of an internship running smoothly. The article that I read this week mentions that I need to “Seek out opportunities to learn”. I need to step out of my comfort zone and grow with my knowledge. Every internship has a team that you will either work with or observe, according to the article. It is important to learn everyone’s names and make sure you understand what everyone does to support the company. Again, first impressions are everything. Lastly, the reason for your internship is to build your portfolio. The more experience the better your portfolio will look and the better understanding you will have of what you want to do. This article really helped me set my goals for this year and know about what I need to do to further my understanding of Speech Therapy and Audiology.