I applied for an internship with NerdWallet on more or less a whim. I liked to write and had analytic skills. NerdWallet was a tiny two-person startup looking for someone with analytic skills to write things. I figured it would be boring as hell, but I’d get some startup experience and earn some money before heading back to college. Turns out I was wrong. It was the best internship, best job, I’ve ever had. And when they asked if I wanted to stick around and keep working there, my first thoughts were, in this order: Heck yes, My parents will kill me, and Eh. Still worth it. Here’s what I learned about how to get the most out of an intern, lessons that I hope to employ now that NerdWallet’s intern corps is expanding.
Why is better than what.
Generally, when you’re an intern, you can ask what, how and when, as in What do you need me to do, how do you want it done and when do you need it by. But it’s the why that really counts. From an intern’s perspective, understanding why is the key to engagement, curiosity, and commitment. From an employer’s, why makes the interns more productive. They can allocate their time better, and you can better see which concepts they understand and which they don’t. Encourage questions – you’ll learn a lot by answering them.
Let them learn, at least on their own time.
When you’re not learning, you’re standing still, and when you stand still, you atrophy. My bosses did their best to encourage me to learn all the aspects of the business, whether they related to what I was doing or not. Though it had nothing to do with my work, I’d receive a link for a good Javascript tutorial or article on entrepreneurship. Oftentimes the nature of an internship is such that acquiring new skills is difficult, but you can still pass along recommendations and resources, showing that you care about the intern’s long-term growth instead of just his short-term value to the company.
Get rid of window treatments.
Perhaps this was a function of a small office, but the founders were very open in discussing strategy and vision, pulling back the curtain to the extent that it felt like there was no curtain at all. Cluing the intern in on the inner workings of the company shows that you trust them. You’re willing to let them in on (some of) what makes your company special, and you think that they’re smart enough to absorb at least a tenth of it. And here’s the great thing about trust: most of the time, if you show someone that you trust them, they’ll work even harder to keep your trust.
I’d started this internship as a bridge from junior to senior year, thinking it would end up as a line on my resume and a recommendation letter. But the founders worked hard – though God knows they were busy with a hundred other things – to make sure I got value out of the experience. And it worked, so well that I decided to stay around while the company grew, and eventually get interns of my own.
Anisha Sekar is an intern-turned-employee of NerdWallet, a personal finance and credit card website
