The Return Offer

Some assumptions

• You (actually) want to come back full time

• You are eligible for a full-time position (generally rising senior or post-graduation)

• Company is hiring 

• 12-week summer internship

Weeks 1-4

• Your manager (ideally) is your best friend and advocate during your internship. Establish a productive back & forth with them via weekly 1-on-1s. 

• Ask for a clear definition of what success in the internship looks like. If one does not exist, ask them to work with you on one and keep checking in as a recurring topic during your internship.

• Normalize a relationship where you feel comfortable asking questions.

• Stay mindful of their time.

• Start to build a support system of other full time engineers and interns.

  • Identify engineers on your team who converted from intern ➝ full time. They will empathize with your experience. Set up recurring meetings to discuss your progress and any questions you feel less comfortable asking your direct manager. Spreading questions across multiple sources can help prevent you from feeling like you’re burdening your manager (and no one knows the full extent of what you don’t know).

  • Hang out with other interns and bounce ideas off one another.

• Be humble, show an eagerness to learn, and be willing to take on a variety of work. Communication is key.

Weeks 8-12

• Make sure your work is clearly documented and organized. Check in weekly with your manager on any critical projects and have them confirm they can access key information if needed after you leave.

• Set up a final presentation to go over your main project(s). Work with your manager to ensure that critical hiring managers from your team (and others) can and will attend. Polish and practice this presentation, as it will be your final impression on the team.

Post-internship

• Thank your manager and your team for the time and energy they invested into you during your internship.

• Keep the contact info (and LinkedIns) of multiple managers and your main internship recruiter. Reach back out after 1-2 months have passed and reiterate your interest in coming back full time.

• Stay patient.

• Full-time headcount may not be sorted by the time your internship ends (ex. August, with a projected start date 1 year later). 

• Be proactive. That might seem counter to the last point about patience, but do not assume that your recruiter cares about or will remember to reach out to you when the time comes. It is your responsibility (and no one else’s) to contact them regularly asking for updates. Obviously if they say no updates will be available for 3 months, don’t message them every few days. But definitely check in after 2 months and check if the timeline remains intact.

• Apply and interview elsewhere. It doesn’t matter if you just had the greatest experience at your dream company where they assured you of a return offer. Until a contract is signed (and even sometimes afterwards, during a recession), the company has no obligation to you. Even if your manager pushes on your behalf, sometimes decisions go over their head.

• It cannot hurt you to get counter offers. Having one on the table is by far the easiest method of increasing total compensation (TC), especially for your first job out of school.

Key takeaways: 

• I've seen many interns come, go, and stay. If you have to take one thing from this, it would be to learn and practice effective communication (written and verbal). Most other skills (CAD, drawings, releasing parts to vendors, etc) can be picked up on the job and are typically not the focus during intern conversion conversations. The most successful interns are the ones that people want to work with.

• Be honest about your intentions and ask for feedback as often as available.

• Ask to be added to email threads. Review the tone, language, and structure that successful engineers use for different audiences.

• Look through successful slide decks made by full-time engineers and other interns. Digest what made them successful.

• Respond to things as quickly as you can without compromising quality. 

• Be transparent about timelines and supply updates if they change. 

• Provide feedback without arrogance and receive feedback without defensiveness. Stick to facts and minimize bias in both scenarios. Data-driven decisions are king.