It’s the time of year when internships are wrapping up. Whether interns hope to return to their employer after graduation or are preparing for what’s next, how they finish their internship matters. The way they close out this experience can have a lasting impact on both their reputation and future opportunities.
How someone leaves an internship tells an employer a lot about them. Did they take their work seriously? What value did they bring to the team? Did they seem invested in the organization – not just the tasks they completed? Were they thinking long-term, or simply counting down the days until they left?
These are questions many people don’t consider during the final weeks of an internship, but they can separate someone who simply completed their assignments from someone who made a lasting impression. And while internships inspired this post, the same principles I’ll discuss here apply to leaving a job, completing a contract, or wrapping up any professional season. Each of these milestones is a tremendous opportunity to build your brand as someone who follows through, does good work, and tries to make the lives of others easier.
No matter what season is coming to a close for you or someone in your life, here are my best tips for how to “finish well” to both ensure the team can build upon the work you’ve completed and to show that you want to leave the job and team better than you found it.
1 ) Complete Outstanding Tasks
In your last few weeks, you must prioritize what is most important. If you’re not sure what that is or what “done” looks like for some of your tasks, talk to your manager about what is urgent and important, or what success looks like. It’s always better to be clearer upfront about priorities rather than getting down to the wire and realizing you were on the wrong path. Don’t aim to get everything absolutely finished – in most cases, that’s not realistic. Find what will bring the most value to the team while you’re still there and what you feel you’re uniquely equipped to do.
2 ) Make a Master File
Whenever I’ve left a job, I made a succession planning document that was the “master file” that my manager and teammates could use after I left. It’s not feasible to put a whole job into one document, but this file should bring together the most critical resources into one place as a starting point for everything else. Mine in the past have included key contacts (internal and external), major responsibilities for the next 30, 60, and 90 days (what’s outstanding and what can’t be missed), links to critical websites or documents, and the status of tasks that wouldn’t be finished by the time I left. This doesn’t need to be perfect, but it can be a lighthouse for people who need to pick up the tasks after you leave. (And if you’re like me, a lot of this knowledge lived in my brain, so putting it on paper was an enormous help to everyone after my last day.)
3 ) Focus on Gratitude
No matter what job we’re in or employer we’re with, we all learn things in our work with others. Even if you didn’t have a great experience, focus on what went well and what you can take with you. I encourage you to send personal notes to anyone you genuinely connected with or learned from, and consider sending a team email to others, acknowledging their part in your experience and offering your contact information to stay in touch. This should not come from a place of obligation – it is obvious when someone says something they don’t mean. However, think about yourself in a few years – it is probably best to be kind now and avoid burning any bridges.
With that in mind, be thoughtful about the story you tell about your experience there or your choice to leave (if it’s a job). Avoid bashing your team or where you’re leaving, especially when it’s still fresh and you have emotions potentially writing the story. Do your best to make it a story about you and how this next chapter is what’s best for you. If you do have any significant concerns about your team or workplace, share those thoughts with your manager or HR before you depart. And if you’re not sure what to do, find a trusted mentor to figure out the next step. But regardless, you should focus on the “you” part of this equation because it’s what’s in your control. Speaking poorly about your old team, employer, or manager can be a way to not only burn bridges that could lead to future opportunities, but also diminish others’ trust in you.
4 ) Continue Your Network
One of the most confusing phrases – although it’s often meant genuinely – is to “stay in touch.” Young professionals frequently ask me what that actually means. It’s subjective, but here’s my take: maintaining a relationship with someone should feel genuine (not forced), mutual, and unique to the people in the relationship. It does not mean texting your former boss or everyone you know at the company every month after your internship stating your interest in coming back or reaching out with no real purpose (this has happened to me, no joke). What it does mean is that the two people who worked together can talk about how they’d like to stay in touch, and they should communicate in whatever ways feel natural to them. Personally, I love to receive or send a “I’m thinking about you today because _____” text or engaging on social media to show them I’m rooting for them. Your relationship won’t be the same as when you worked together since you don’t share an internal calendar, you don’t see each other all the time, and so on. That means the relationship must shift, and you have to be intentional about maintaining it. Talk about it. Don’t force it. Make it meaningful and authentic to both of you. Don’t seem like you only want something from the other person. Figure it out as you go.
In terms of who to stay in touch with after an internship or job, you have to prioritize. You won’t be able to maintain every single relationship, but there are some that are important enough to you that you don’t want to lose touch. Who are those 2-5 people? Before you leave, share how much your relationship has meant to you and make it clear that you want to stay in contact in the next chapter. See if the feeling is reciprocated, and ask if there are any preferences on staying in touch. For me, I think touching base a few times a year is plenty, but others may only have capacity for once a year or maybe prefer once a month or quarter. Work it out together, and let it ebb and flow over time. Life is a series of transitions – be patient and flexible throughout them.
It can feel like a sprint to the finish line as you approach your last day in a role or a team.
The goal isn’t to be perfect and to tie everything up with a bow – it is to show that you care about the team and about setting them up for success after you’re gone. How you leave says a lot about you – both within your organization and across your professional network.
With that said, remember that you are only human, and you can only accomplish what you can. Take care of yourself since transitions and endings of seasons can take a toll on a person mentally, emotionally, and physically. I appreciate you wanting to do a great job, but remember that your best is all anyone could ever ask for.
If you truly do your best as you conclude this season, it will be a strong signal to the organization, industry, and community that you’re someone they would want on their team. And although I believe in luck, I think it follows hard work. So if you want to be lucky down the road, put the work in today, and your future self will thank you.
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