Internship Advice From The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Panel

In June, interns from around the state attended Indiana INTERNnet’s first engagement event of the summer. Interns came together at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to network, explore, engage in a personal development seminar, and hear from a panel of past and present Children’s Museum interns.

Panelists shared their stories, while attendees asked questions regarding career paths and entering the workforce.

The future
One of my biggest takeaways was that it’s okay to not know what you want to do. Taking everything one day at a time was a large focal point that the panelists hit on. They all spoke of their past experiences and how they got to where they are today.

It was interesting to hear the different ways they wound up at the museum. Something they had in common: All had reached a point where they had no idea what they wanted to do or where they would end up. This was reassuring for me to hear, and I’m sure for others in the audience. Not knowing your ultimate destination is OK. The only thing we can truly control is taking everything one day at a time. Acquiring internship experience is only going to open your eyes to better see what you really want (or don’t want) to do.

Mentoring
The importance of having a mentor was another great takeaway. Learning from others’ experiences can be tremendously beneficial. Creating a relationship where you have someone to go to with questions can make a big difference in succeeding in the workplace. Making those connections while at an internship and keeping them beyond your time at a company leads to amazing outcomes and new possibilities.

Using your passion
The panelists encouraged using your passions to discover what you want to do. An intern in the audience asked a question, for example, regarding finding the right path within a broad field of study. The answer was simple: Find what you’re passionate about and see where your interests fit within that field. In order to maximize success and make the most out of your job, there needs to be passion and excitement driving your work.

Give 100%
There were so many other great pieces of advice given, but the last one I’ll share is that no matter what the job is, do it with the best effort you have. Everyone is going to have to do some dirty work and start somewhere. One route that many take to where they want to be is by starting at the bottom. Working your way up also enhances your understanding of all of the jobs throughout the company. When you get to the top, you have more respect for the work that’s done.

The event was an amazing experience and extremely helpful for all interns. We also held an engagement event with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in July! If you missed either of our summer engagement events, don’t worry. We still have one more on August 2 with the Indiana State Fair! For those not around the Indianapolis area, check out my previous blog post about how to get involved!

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis interns remark on their internship experiences while sharing advice to current interns around Indiana.