暑期大片：实习照亮未来

    很久以前，我们两人中有一个人的暑期实习项目是陪老板打高尔夫。当时这个在校大学生的差点（差点数是高尔夫球中，选手完成一个回合的比赛实际需要的杆数减去球场的标准杆数所得数字——编者注）达到了个位数，老板非常欣赏。实际上，此君实习期间并没做多少实质性的工作，但这似乎并不重要，尤其是对老板而言。而另外一个人（此君打高尔夫球的点数太差劲，连家庭纪录都羞于提及）的暑期实习项目则是到处问别人：“需要把鸡蛋分开包装吗？”确实无聊透顶，不过，如果你的工作就是找不自在的话，这个实习项目还是相当不错的。

    就像歌中唱的那样：“朋友们，过去的日子多么美好啊。我们都曾以为好日子永远不会到头……”

    其实，好花不常开。好日子真的一去不复返了。鉴于众所周知的经济状况，为了能在心仪的领域得到一个初级职位，大部分大学毕业生不得不绞尽脑汁，一路奋战到底。其中有多达25%的学生甚至连进门面试的机会都没有。

    今年的毕业生别再指望能像他们的父辈，或者甚至像他们的哥哥姐姐那样度过暑期实习期了。在那个年代，不论是在什么行业，暑期实习生去上班只不过是打发时间，等到周末则去度假，每天上班最大的好处就是：感谢上帝，终于不用上课，也不用参加考试了。

    相反，实习生们应该怀着这样的心理：等毕业时要想找到一份实实在在的、有趣的工作，这个夏天或许是一个最好的机会。当然前提是他们能够记住两件“小”事情。

    好吧，其实不能说是“小”事。

    首先要搞清楚，在这个暑期，谁得放低身段？当然，兴致很高的招聘人员们可能会信誓旦旦地表示，实习的目的是让你接触公司的优秀员工和文化，帮助实习生获得宝贵的行业经验，这些好听的话不妨先听着。不过你要遵循的底线是，不论是在投资银行还是电台，暑期实习更多的是要付出而不是获取。最主要的是在实习期间要有上佳表现，能够超额完成任务，并用自己极富洞察力、独到的点子打动公司，用注重细节的表现在人们心目中留下这样的印象：“啧啧，这孩子真的很想得到这份工作。”

    你需要做一些事情，凸显出老板的“英雄”形象。比如，建议对流程进行小范围的改进，提出一个超酷的包装点子，就客户群提出深刻见解等。你可以做任何事情，只要让老板这样想：“如果这小子为竞争对手工作，那简直糟透了。”事实上，实习的每一天都得追求这种效果。

    Once upon a time – i.e., eons ago – one of us had a summer internship that mainly involved playing golf with the boss, who appreciated the company of a college kid with a single-digit handicap. Not much work got done, but it didn't seem to matter, particularly to the boss. The other one of us (the one whose handicap is so obscene it can't be printed in a family publication) once had a summer job that revolved around asking, "Would you like your eggs bagged separately?" It was boring, sure, but the hours were great if hitting the pool is your kind of thing.

    As the song goes, "Those were the days, my friends. We thought they'd never end…."

    Well, they did. They really, really did. Today, due to economic conditions that need no explanation, most college grads have to fight and claw for entry-level jobs in their chosen fields, and many, perhaps as many as 25%, aren't even able to get a well-shined shoe in the door.

    So say goodbye to your father's, or even your older brother's, summer internship, when the office was, for all intents and purposes, where you passed the time between weekends at Cape Cod, and the best thing about going to work each day was that it meant -- hallelujah! -- you weren't going to classes or taking exams.

    Say hello instead to a summer that offers what might be your best hope of landing a real, live job upon graduation. That is -- if you can just remember two little things.

    O.K., maybe they aren't little.

    The first is to be keenly aware of who is courting whom this summer. Sure, the cheerful hiring people might have assured you that your internship is designed to introduce you to the company's wonderful staff and culture and help you gain valuable industry experience, which is all well and good. Take that stuff in. But the bottom line is that, whether you're working at an investment bank or a radio station, your summer internship should be more about giving than getting. Indeed, it should primarily be about you giving a helluva performance, over-delivering, making an impression with your insightful, unexpected ideas and terrific, sweat-the-details kind of output that prompts people to say, "Holy Cow, this kid really wants it."

    You need to do stuff that makes your boss look like a hero. Suggest a small process improvement, come up with a cool packaging idea, offer deep-dive insights into a customer segment. Do something, anything, that might make your boss think, "It would really stink if this kid worked at one of our competitors." That's the kind of wow you're after…every single day.