3 Tips to Be a Super Hero Intern

Internships may be a pretty standard rite of passage for young people hoping to break into professional careers, but just because nearly everyone does a couple, doesn't mean every internship (or every intern for that matter) is created equal -- far from it. As everyone from authors to CEOs has attested before on this blog -- plenty of internships are awful and plenty of interns less than inspiring when it comes to seizing the opportunity and making the most of it.

But every once in awhile a company and an eager young career starter align perfectly and a truly exceptional internship experience is born. That's just what happened when Domain Holdings met high school seniors (yes, that says high school, not college) Chris Smiles and Brian Diener.

So how did two kids who are barely old enough to vote win internship places over more educated competitors, and how did they astound management enough to earn the nicknames "Zuckerberg and Gates"? And more importantly, what lessons do they have to teach other students looking to avoid mundane internships and find exceptional ones?

John Ferber, Chairman at Domain Holdings explained in an interview that Smiles and Diener managed to stand out from other applicants because of demonstrated, hands-on experience in the company's field. "Brian had his own industry blog and recently won a college scholarship from Godaddy.com. At a very young age he's established himself as a respected voice in the industry," he said, suggesting that industry passion often means more than age or academic qualifications and that a project that demonstrates practical skills may beat a sending out resumes with a spray gun when it comes to landing a great internship.

Domain Holdings exceptional interns didn't just come to the company with accomplishments under their belt, they also continued to produce impressive results after being hired. "Within their first week of working here they generated more than $10,000 in sales, and in the six to eight weeks they've been here so far launched a new service offering," Ferber said. Besides hard work, what does Ferber recommend other interns do to make their experiences similarly successful? He offered three tips:

• Ask to attend as many meetings as possible as well as any external sales calls, trade shows, networking events, etc.
• Don't be afraid to ask questions, chance are if you don't know or understand something, there are other people in the company who feel the same way.
• Most companies have several different divisions with different functions, follow your passion and make sure your internship provides you the right exposure and work you are interested in.. If you are interested in sales make sure you are spending time with sales, or finance, finance.

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