I Turned My Internship Into A Full-Time Job Offer—Here’s How You Can Too

Congrats, you started your internship! But once you’ve logged that accomplishment, another equally important question arises: How can you turn your internship into a full-time job offer?

To find out how to make the leap from intern to fully employed we spoke to people who have done it successfully at Thermo Fisher Scientific—the world leader in serving science.

First And Foremost: Do A Great Job

Before you start thinking about the communication and networking side of securing a full-time job offer, you have to establish priority number one: performance.

Listen to your manager’s instructions, pay close attention to the details of each assignment, and try to learn as much as you can about the business so that you can contribute in ways that go above and beyond.

“At the end of the day, work hard and deliver,” says Chloe, a former intern who has since worked her way up to the Senior Director level at Thermo Fisher. “You can be really collaborative and build a great network, but if you’re not delivering on your commitments, you’re not going to get an offer.”

This means not only tackling what you’re explicitly assigned to do, but also looking beyond the work and seeing how else you can contribute to the company, whether that’s by asking for additional projects or leaning into the culture.

Build A Strong Network And Maintain Communication

Networking is more than just a business buzzword—it’s an essential skill that helps you both accomplish legitimate goals and advance your career. And at Thermo Fisher, managers take the time to teach their interns and entry-level hires how to become networking pros.

The process of meeting and engaging with people across the company, especially those in leadership positions, can help establish your presence and open lines of communication that are useful for work.

Thermo Fisher provides a ton of opportunities to network with leaders from across the company through its open culture and rich calendar of social, philanthropic, and professional development events. For example, networking can happen when you’re meeting senior leaders at an Executive Lunch and Learn or connecting with people on other teams at an educational panel hosted by the Women’s Employee Resource Group.

Plus, there are other benefits to meeting people at the company. “I came for the mission, but I stayed for the people,” Chloe says.

“We have an incredible team of people at Thermo Fisher,” she adds. “It’s fantastic to meet so many people who are working on the same end-goal: enabling our mission to happen. It’s really fantastic to get to work with such a diverse set of smart people.”

Most Important Of All: Think About Whether It’s Right For You

Great internships are designed to be pretty similar to the entry-level role you would take on if you came back after graduation. That’s why really finding work you enjoy at your internship is so important. The idea of being a “culture fit” is no joke, either. Feeling like you’re a part of something at the office can really add to your motivation to perform well and participate in company activities.

For most employees at Thermo Fisher, that uniting factor is the company’s mission: To enable their customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. That was particularly important for Sophia, a recent grad who turned her Thermo Fisher internship into a full-time role.

“I knew about their work and that they had a good social responsibility stance. They’re trying to make the world a better place, even in the IT department,” Sophia says. “Even though I wasn’t a scientist, I knew I was doing something that would help scientists accelerate their experiments and discoveries. That’s why I wanted to go full-time,” she explains.

Sophia saw her impact firsthand when she was working on a project that had her conduct interviews with scientists using the cloud platform.  The final product: a compiled a set of recommendations to increase ease of use and engagement. And her team actually ended up adopting these platform changes.

Because she found her work so compelling—and really believed in the mission—Sophia found it easy to lean into culture events like ERG panels and philanthropy. And her managers at Thermo Fisher found it easy to offer her a full-time job when the internship came to a close.

Looking for your own internship to turn into a full-time job? Learn more about working at Thermo Fisher Scientific on WayUp!