Reached out my network, and asked: “What advice do you have for interns?”  Here is what 25 senior managers and owners said (slight editing, and my emphasis in blue color) on finishing your internship well.

Be proud of your work

• Summarize the project. Recap all the projects you’ve worked on and the results / impact. (Erica S)
• Document and share key insights gained and how this will impact your studies / career plans. (RAK)
• What impression do you want to leave? Structure your final presentation based on those goals. (JL)
• Ensure that the decision maker is crystal clear on what you will deliver. Having a clear end in mind is very important. If the deliverable in form of a PPT or Report – build out a mock report with placeholders and get agreement. Do not be afraid to ask for clarity and confirmation on what you are working towards? Now is the time to focus on the [final] deliverable – avoid distractions or scope creep. (GTE)
• Check if the remainder of your task / project / internship is going to be delivering value at the same pace as the first 2/3 of the project / internship or not. If the pace is only increasing and you are delivering more and more value – great! Stay the course. If you feel like most of the value has been delivered already, check with the manager if you can pivot; use the remainder of time on higher value added activities.
• The one piece of advice I was told when finishing my internship is to go back to the beginning. Review the initial objectives of the internship as well as the specific case study and measure if those objectives were met. Finishing strong requires that you know where you started. (MF)

Apply what you learned (“I am coachable”)

• Also, if there is a “final project” please incorporate something specific (using X resource, advice, etc) your manager has shared with you earlier in the internship. Example from a few years ago: early in the summer, I shared with my intern how Slideology (Duarte) as a fantastic reference for creating compelling slides that support your story/presentation/deliverable. I observed throughout the summer this intern continually pour over this book during their downtime, and in their final presentation, I could see specific elements of the deck use principles from Duarte’s book. (AJH)
• Actively try to have learned 5 new things and show this to your supervisor. (BD, Germany)
• Provide a link to all materials created. . . so that the next person has a reference sheet. (Erica S)

Keep going (“I got grit”)

• Treat the internship like a real job. You never know who’s watching… or who’s hiring. (Whitney M)
• If they are positioning for an offer, it may not be too late to recover from a slow start if they can crunch a critical deliverable. Don’t give up until the finish line (TJO)
• Finish as strong as you can – if you are working on a report, burn the midnight oil, make it your best work! You want to come out of this with a full-time offer for at least 2 reasons: 1) you may have been lucky enough to have found the right company, so lock it in; and 2) it’s an option you can take back to school, that will greatly boost your confidence – and competitiveness – in other interviews, and having more than one choice always puts you at an advantage in your career. (R3)
• It is fine to not knowing something, as you are at the very beginning of working journey. However, you must take the initiative to learn things and figure out what you need to do to get the job done, not just sit there and wait for someone to tell you what you need to do or spoon-feeding you information. There is no such thing as free lunch in working world. (Ivan Y)

Build relationships (“I am not a business robot”)

• Focus on building good relationships; take the time to know more about your co-workers, fellow interns, managers, etc. These will be helpful later when you need your network connections for a full time position and also expand your horizons to the diversity of talent and attitudes out there, which make you a better, more empathetic person and a better colleague wherever you go. (Rani A)
• Secure contacts! When you’re an intern/employee, almost everyone is willing to grab a coffee with you. Look up some people who can be of interest later, and invite them for coffee. Have a nice conversation about their job and what you can learn from them. They will appreciate this and maybe even become one of your sponsors later in your career. (AZ)
• If not already, also take the time to thank folks, secretaries – no need to wait till the end – a box of cookies or a thank you note goes a long way (GTE)
• Continue to be a sponge; try to connect with colleagues that you have not previously had the time to speak to and learn from (TJO)
• Enjoy the experience – it’s a great chance to get a taste for the occupation. If you didn’t enjoy the internship, you generally won’t enjoy it as a full time role. (TJO)
• Give credit where credit is due (e.g. if there were full-time staff that contributed to the success of the case study, in whatever way, acknowledge them). This could have been in the form of a lunch and learn chat, a ten-minute lesson on discounted cash flow analysis, or covering for you to the senior manager if you were having an off day. At the end of the day, the analysis and synthesis of the case study are going to have to be presented and accounted for; but it is the soft skills and class acts that are most memorable. (MF)

Be memorable

• Make noise, take the stage! Honestly, your work will end up in someone’s drawer collecting dust, but take the opportunity to advertise yourself and your work. Depending on the nature of the internship this can be anything from a big presentation to a several blog big thank you note on LinkedIn. (AZ)
• Keep in mind that a strong start and finish are critical as they are likely to be most remembered by how they perform on these things (first impressions, quality of last project/deliverable)
• Solidify / set up future relationships for success by writing thoughtful thank you notes. Yes, handwritten thank you notes. For close mentors and managers, these can go a long way (regardless of whether you hope to / actually receive a return offer). For some folks you interacted with over the summer, an email goodbye / thank you / let’s stay in touch is likely fine. For others, they may have been the one of the most, if not the most, influential people thus far in your career (esp. junior year of undergrand internships). Cultivate these relationships accordingly.

If I were to add a few more points:

1. Review your deliverable with your manager. Nothing is more persuasive than really high-quality work.
2. Reiterate your interest in the company, role, and full-time employment <<If true>>. “Ask for the order.“
3. Reflect on any feedback you got during the internship, were you really listening? Did you make changes?
4. If it is a formal internship program, reach out to HR, and ask if there is anything you can do to help them with the program for next-time around (e.g., on-boarding, testimonials etc)
5. Create training manuals (if necessary). As Erica S mentioned above, document any best practices that you created / used, so it can be used long-after you have left. Leave the place better than you found it.
6. If you created excel models or anything that might be difficult to interpret, create a workbook tab or instruction document, which explains where the data came from (with links), the steps you took etc. . .If you get a phone call in late November, and they ask you about cell A325, you will have NO idea.
7. Be generous. Is there another intern, or someone on your team who could use your help?
8. Celebrate.

ConsultantsMind community – thanks for responding to the survey.

Any other advice?

Please post into comments, then I will layer into the post. Cheers.