During a decade of working with small business and Fortune 500 companies, software engineer, IT leader and entrepreneur Ryan D. Glick has been surprised by the number of intern candidates who didn’t prepare for their interviews. His Internship Mastery: The Technology Student’s Guide to Crushing Your Internship and Launching Your Career addresses the issue in a how-to format designed to help college students make the most of a pre-employment “gold mine of experience and connections.”
Glick’s simple, straightforward book is easy to follow. After telling us how his observations led to Internship Mastery, the author shares a brief personal account of how he took on a contractor job when had no experience working on the equipment, vividly setting the stage for the importance of hands-on, practical experience and what it can do for a budding career.
Covering the stages of an internship—before, during and after—in three main chapters, Glick ends each with a succinct “Take Action” list that challenges students to proactively pursue next steps. His advice, which ranges from fine-tuning a resume to assessing the value of an unpaid stint, is clear and relatable: “…take on (and ask for) assignments, tasks and projects that are just beyond your skill level”; “If you have a goofy email address, get a new one” before seeking an internship; “…you must learn to follow before you can lead.” A bonus chapter on avoiding debt, which he brings to life with his own spendthrift stories, precedes recommendations for books and podcasts and a collection of wise nuggets geared toward personal and career growth.
Although specifically targeted to technology students, this slim book is applicable for all types of mentees, with few field-specific references to deter other young people from absorbing its valuable lessons. Internship Mastery not only serves as a great pocket resource for those seeking to complete an internship and capitalize on it afterward, but as a useful crash course in networking, professionalism and soft skills.
Also available in hardcover, ebook and audio book.
