Making the Most of an Internship at a Recording Studio

Internships are an important first step in your career and can open the door to a certain company or career path you are looking to pursue. They may get a bad reputation as many internships are unpaid, and you hear horror stories of interns did nothing but get coffee for their entire internship, but there are benefits to doing an internship and ways to make sure you avoid doing coffee runs all summer long!

What are the benefits of doing an internship?

An internship is a great way to gain some experience before you go out into the workforce! This experience will give you a leg up on your competition when you start applying for full-time jobs. Some companies even hire their interns immediately after the end of their internship! But even if this does not happen for you, you have gained valuable experience to add to your resume.

An internship is also a great low-risk way to make sure you like a certain job. As internships are short-term, you can try a job for a little bit and make sure you actually like it before you pursue a full-time position! Use this time to try out any different areas of the industry so that you can find out which ones you really like and which ones you do not enjoy before you commit to a full-time job.

The music industry is all about who you know and what kinds of connections you have. An internship is the perfect place to start building this professional network. Make a good impression on your supervisors and co-workers so you can use them as references in the future and keep those valuable connections. You never know when those connections will come in handy!

These are only a few of the benefits of doing an internship! There are so many things you can get out of an internship, you just have to know how to make the most of it.

No matter what tasks you are assigned during your internship, have a positive attitude! As an intern, you are on the bottom of the food chain, and so you may not always be given the most exciting tasks. Be willing to do anything, even if it is cleaning the kitchen, and make sure you do it well. Eagerness and a good effort will not go unnoticed, and eventually you will be given more interesting tasks to do as people will realize they can trust you with a little more responsibility!

There will be times when you do not have anything to do, either because you have not been assigned anything or you have finished the things you were assigned to work on. However, you should not sit around doing nothing! Poke around without getting in the way, and ask if there is anything you can help with or anything else you can work on. If there is not, find something to clean or organize. People will notice hard work and this will help you build a positive reputation with your supervisors!

Even though you are probably not getting paid and you may not be working on the most interesting things during your internship, you should treat it as though it is a full-time job. Be on time, put in effort, and be professional. Small things like this will go a long way in making you stand out. Slacking off, lateness, and general laziness will give your co-workers a negative impression of you, which will mean they most likely will not involve you in the more interesting tasks or give you a future reference or job offer!

An internship is one thing above all: a learning experience. As you are working, be constantly observant of what is going on around you. Even though you may not get to be involved in everything, simply look around and take in what is happening. Observe what professional relationships are like, take note of how the company runs or how certain procedures work. Take in everything!

While you are observing, ask questions about anything that interests you! People like a willingness to learn, and will appreciate that you are putting in the effort to learn more. If there is something you are interested in, ask questions or offer to help.

The more questions you ask and the more initiative you take, the more you will be allowed to participate in! Things will not just be handed to you, so in order to make the most of your internship and take advantage of all the benefits it offers you, be proactive and get involved in your workplace! Even if you are not getting paid you should leave any internship with at least two things: valuable work experience and a reference from your supervisor! Those are incredibly valuable tools to have in your pocket as you go out into the world and start applying for full-time jobs!