领导力内幕网络是美国的一个在线社区，美国商界最睿智和最有影响力的一些人物会在这里及时回答与职业和领导力有关的话题。今天为大家分享的是雅培公司质保、监管与工程服务高级副总裁科利斯·穆雷在“实习结束后，怎样留在实习单位工作？”这一问题下的回答。

实习是了解一个领域的一种很好的方式。如果你的实习期过得很有质量，那么实习的日子必定过得辛苦，你所从事的这个行当也会渐渐揭开它神秘的面纱，这样的实习显然是很有意义的。如果你喜欢上了这份辛苦，对工作觉得乐在其中，对所从事的业务抱有激情，那么你就必然想获得一份该领域的工作机会。

我个人与实习生打交道已经有很多年了。五年前，我们还在雅培公司创立了一个高中生实习计划。这些年的经验下来，我发现有这样几种方法，可以帮助你在实习结束后获得一份梦想的工作。

找一个“啦啦队长”

很多非常聪明和大气的老师、老板和其他职业人士都愿意在你求职时助你一臂之力——只要你知道如何与他们建立正确的关系。

找一个“啦啦队长”的最明显的好处，便是当你找工作的时候，他们能站出来为你说说好话。但他们的另一个作用，就是当你需要做出重大决择时，他们能够为你提供额外的信心——这会让你显得更加成熟和自信，从而有助于你获得那份工作。

我高三时便有幸得到了一份实习机会。在实习期间，我认识了一位机械工程师，他成了一个对我的人生有重大影响的人。那时，他并没有很明显地替我“摇旗呐喊”过，但是他带着我参与了一些大型框架系统的检修工作——这些系统就是那个时代的计算机的大脑。要知道，在那个时代，大多数女性工程师都是待在办公室里从事文职工作的。他教会了我如何解决问题，并且同当时只有17岁的我从技术方面探讨了他的工作，以及他作为一名非裔美国人在这个行业里所面临的挑战。

他是一位含蓄的“啦啦队长”，但是他为我揭开了工程师的神秘面纱。如果没有他的鼓励，我压根不会进入这个行业。

打造自己的独特优势

当我决定从事这份职业时，像我这样的条件，在这个领域里几乎是没有先例的。

作为一名黑人女性工程师，即便在今天，我这样的人也是稀有物种，甚至比国会里的女政治家还要稀少十倍。去年，美国国会中有104席被女性占据。相比之下，美国只有12%的工程师是女性，其中少数族裔的比例更是极为罕见（黑人更是只占了2%）。

但你要记住，如果在你选择的领域里像你这样的人不多的话，那么你就有机会让大家用全新的视角审视你。你需要做的只是挖掘得更深，看看你的独特优势是什么。

在雅培公司，我们为高中生、大学生和MBA学生都提供了实习机会。我们不仅想把优秀的年轻人才招聘到科研和工程岗位上，同时也想倾听他们的见解。如果你是一名“80后”或“90后”，那么你看问题的视角可能与你的老板很不一样。你要意识到这种区别，并且提供你的视角。

如果你还不知道自己能拿出什么独特的东西，就先花些时间投资自己。比如加入一些职业网络，主动承担一些具有挑战性的项目和一些多元化的项目，或是在本地院校就读一些课程，同时在行业内外多发展一些人脉资源。

了解业务

除了了解自己的独特优势，在实习期里展示自己的智慧与技能，你最好还要更进一步地了解这个行业的业务。

如果你还不清楚自己的工作能够怎样帮助企业赢利，怎样给股东、员工和社会带来利益，那就最好花些时间，把这个问题搞清楚。

不论你对哪家公司感兴趣——不管是你现在实习的这家还是另一家——你都要仔细读读它的年报，对它的顾客群体、销售渠道和成本产生了解。最好再花时间对它的市场、竞争对手和顾客做一番研究。多听听它的收益电话会议，留心公司的动态。如果你已经在这里实习了一段时间，就多问问关于公司战略的问题，看看它是如何设计的，以及公司是怎样利用分析来指导决策的。

如果你把上述这几点都做到了，就再看看你在公司的战略框架下应该处于什么位置。一旦你能回答出你能给公司带来哪些影响，那么你离获得这份工作就不远了，而且必定能给你未来的老板留下深刻印象。 （财富中文网） 

译者：朴成奎

The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “How do you turn an internship into a full-time job?” is by Corlis Murray, senior vice president of quality assurance, regulatory, and engineering services at Abbott.

Internships are fantastic ways to learn about the field you’re considering. If they’re quality, they’re going to be tough, demystifying—and meaningful. If you find you like the toughness, are happy with the day-to-day, and are impassioned by the impact the line of work offers, you’re going to want to land a job in that field.

After many years of working with interns, including starting a high school internship program at Abbott five years ago, I’ve learned that there are certain ways to market yourself for that dream job post-internship:

Find a cheerleader

Plenty of really smart, wonderful teachers, bosses, and other professionals are willing to cheer you on—if you work to build the right relationships with them.

The obvious benefit of finding cheerleaders is they can rally on your behalf when you want a job. But they’re also great because they give you an extra boost of confidence when making big decisions—which means you look better and feel better, both of which will also help you secure jobs.

I was fortunate to land an internship after my junior year of high school. During that internship, I met a mechanical engineer who ended up being a hugely influential person in my life. He didn’t exactly look or act like a “cheerleader,” but he took me out in the field to troubleshoot large, mainframe systems—the brains for computers at the time—during a time when most female engineers were expected to stay in the office. He taught me how to problem solve. And he discussed with 17-year-old me the technical aspects of what he did, as well as some of the challenges that he had as an African-American in the industry at the time.

He was my implicit cheerleader, but one who demystified what engineers really could do. Without his encouragement, I might not be in the field at all.

Make your own ‘odds’

When I decided to pursue this career, not a single person I knew in the field looked like me.

As a black, female engineer, today, I’m about 10 times more rare than a woman in Congress. While 104 women held seats in Congress last year, just about 12% of engineers in the U.S. are women, and a small percentage of them are minorities (2% are black).

What you need to remember is if there aren’t very many people like you in your chosen field, you have the opportunity to offer a new perspective. You just have to dig down deep enough to figure out what your unique perspective is.

We offer high school, college, and MBA-focused internships at Abbott, not only to attract bright, young people to science and engineering jobs, but to hear their perspectives. If you’re a millennial or part of Generation Z, you probably have a different perspective than your boss. Vet it out and offer it up.

If you’re struggling to figure out your unique offering, spend some time investing in yourself: Join professional networks, take on challenging and diverse projects, enroll in courses at a local college, and network inside and outside of work.

Know the business

In addition to knowing your unique offering and showcasing your intellect and skills during your internship, you also better know the business.

If you don’t think you can articulate how what you do contributes to your company’s responsibility to turn a profit and do right by shareholders, employees, and communities, spend some time mapping it out.

Whatever company you’re interested in—whether the one you’re at now or another—read the annual reports to gain an understanding of customers, sales channels, and costs. Investigate markets, competitors, and customers. Listen in to earnings calls and pay attention. If you’re there already, ask about the company’s strategy, how it was conceived, and how the company uses analytics to guide decisions.

And after you’ve done all of that, figure out where you are in that strategic universe. Once you can answer the “impact” question for yourself, you’re on your way to landing a job—and seriously impressing your future boss.