So, you successfully passed our recruiting process and are starting an internship with us - not an easy task. But this is just the beginning! My name is Valeria, I manage recruiting and career development for our junior team members, including Interns and Visiting Associates. I’m here to share some tips on how to succeed in an internship and kickstart your career with BCG!

Interns are active parts of the project team, and you will be assigned tasks you are solely responsible for. Make sure you get to know the project topic and content and leverage all potential sources and tools: study the internal materials that are shared with you, use our Knowledge Navigator to gather more internal sources, look for external publications or databases and more. Also remember you are part of a team - you can always ask your team members! Asking structured, well-thought-out questions is highly appreciated and valuable. You can then leverage the knowledge you have built to structure data, perform analysis, and derive insights that are valuable to the project. With time, you will master the basic tools of the consulting life, excel and power point, and will become increasingly faster in delivering good quality results.

Stay Organized

To complete the tasks assigned to you, you will need to be effective and structured in your work. Learn how to organize your tasks end-to-end to work within deadlines. I suggest you check your priorities with your manager/team members to confirm everyone is on the same page and then invest your energies and effort in the right direction. Checking in on a draft or structured bullet points on how you want to approach a task is also effective. Being organized ensures you can be someone your team members can count on to get the job done right. And don’t forget to be proactive with new ideas and approaches - there is no one right way to do things.

Communication is key

You will have the chance to work right away on your communication skills - both written and verbal. I suggest you observe your more senior colleagues and try to use a similar approach to them, e.g. being pyramidal, synthetic, and to the point is key! Do not be afraid to share your views and ideas: interns are an integral part of the team and are expected to contribute to the discussion, which includes also pointing out when you do not agree with the consensus. To improve on verbal communication skills, either during internal team meetings or to interact with clients, try to prepare a structured list of the points you want to touch upon and the goal you want to achieve. Then do a dry run, either by yourself or with a colleague, to check that your message does pass through. And most importantly, always ask for feedback afterward!

The only way for an intern to understand how they are performing during their experience is to receive feedback from team members. All the suggestions I shared so far are important, but feedback is the pivotal one. A growth mindset is key for BCGers. Be proactive and frequently ask your manager (and your peers) for their views on how you are performing. That way, you can gain awareness of what you are already doing that is in line with expectations and which are your areas for development. The next step is creating an action plan to address those areas for development and make your improvement trajectory tangible.

 Most of all remember that, regardless of the final outcome, an internship is a learning opportunity for you: challenge yourself, work with your team members, observe, practice and acquire new skills. You will be for sure a more rounded professional than you were when you started!

. . .