Are You Holding Yourself Back at Work?

The minute you start your job or internship, you’ll begin navigating the learning curve in your new role at your new company.  By now, you’ve learned the basics you’ll need to succeed: asking around for more work, requesting feedback from your boss on a regular basis and speaking up more in meetings. However, even if you’re churning out the best work the company has ever seen, you may be missing out on a vital part of turning an internship into a full-time job or turning a full-time job into a long-term job: making connections.

Jason Schulweis, VP of Marketing Solutions at Live Nation, stresses the importance of networking internally: “It’s partly about the work that you do but also about the relationships you form.” Why? Because at the end of the day, your co-workers and your supervisors are people — and people want to work with people they like. After all, you’ll be spending the majority of your time: 8 hours, 5 days a week (at minimum!) with your coworkers. It’s why HR is determined to find a “great fit” for the company during the application process; it’s why work happy hours and bonding events are planned so that you can get to know one another, forming a cohesive team and a positive work environment.

That’s why it’s so important to connect with the people you’re working with — from greeting everyone on Monday morning and asking how their weekends went to making an extra effort when you go out to lunch or on a Starbucks run– “Hey, I’m going on a coffee run – does anyone want anything?” It’s especially important to show up at office get-togethers. Making connections not only affects the way you work together as a team, but also can help to propel your career forward whether your stay at the company or not. Jen from the DJ/Producer Duo, The Jane Doze, says that when she and her partner-in-crime Claire were thinking about creating their own music, they “worked hard enough to build a strong network” of people that would stick their necks out for them. In fact, it’s how the duo got one of their singles on Spotify’s New Music playlist: Jen had previously worked as a publicist with the people at Spotify, who were willing to promote her music.

So, whether you’ll be finishing up your summer internship or have just started in a full-time role, make sure you put an effort into forming relationships with your team. You never know where it will lead!