5 tips for acing your new summer job

Traditionally, summer is the season where students play hard and work even harder. We feel the need to compete against each other, and leverage LinkedIn as a tool to directly compare our accomplishments against our coworkers and colleagues, as a toxic form of self-validation. As white collar workers in-training, we constantly try to justify that the opportunities that we capitalise on align with our goal of achieving a highly profitable career.

This creates high expectations for students as they start focusing their efforts on securing a summer internship. Although a large majority of Commerce students focus on banking, consulting and investing internships, other non-corporate jobs such as lifeguarding, working at a vineyard or as a camp counsellor are equally exciting and valuable roles. These jobs cultivate customer service, public speaking and interpersonal soft skills that oftentimes can’t be developed in a traditional internship. So with that, the team at SLBC wants to help you ace your new job with a few tips and tricks!

Tip 1: Over Communicate! So many jobs focus primarily on meeting quotas, benchmarks and targets. Within this newly virtual workspace, socialising with coworkers is hard. So put in the effort to build a strong and supportive culture within your teams. Make friends, build connections, and make the most of this incredible opportunity.

Tip 2: Be transparent. Regardless of what your responsibilities are, establishing an open and honest line of communication with your manager is essential. When you face problems, ask your superiors questions to clarify and solve the situation. If you omit details and misrepresent the issue, you increase your boss’s workload if they have to compensate for your mistakes.

Tip 3: Take Advantage of Hidden Opportunities. Most jobs develop service-based opportunities to help develop soft skills and build connections with other interns. Taking advantage of these opportunities help maximise the benefit of each job, and help continue to propel you towards success.

Tip 4: Don’t forget your personal brand. When working corporate and in new environments, continuing to reflect the values and ideals you emphasised in your interview solidifies your ability to be dependable, reliable and trustworthy.

Tip 5: Set healthy boundaries, goals and benchmarks. Creating a healthy lifestyle and prioritising your mental health is essential to establish a realistic balance to avoid overworking. Take time for yourself.

So with that, regardless of your summer plans, go out and have a blast! The summer is already full of opportunity, if you don’t want to believe me, believe our executive team! Soon, our team will be featured in “Exec Takeovers” on Instagram to tell you a little bit more about their unique summer job opportunities! See you all in September.