You’re about to start your first professional internship, and if all goes well, then you won’t leave this place when your internship period ends…You’ll just step out the door and come back in the next day as a full time employee. And if you aren’t hired here, you’d at least like to leverage your tenure into a job with a similar company. Most full time professional employees who love their current jobs look back fondly on a positive internship or summer experience that sparked a permanent passion for their current field. Here are a few moves that can help you leverage your internship into a promising long term plan.

1. Start from the beginning by taking control over your experience. And let your boss know that you’re taking control. Schedule a planning meeting with him or her and use this meeting to clarify what you want to learn here and the aspects of the business you’d like exposure to. Ask what you can do to make these things happen.

2. Listen as well as you talk. Ask what your boss would like to see you accomplishing or working on while you’re here. Find out how many of these projects, and how much of each one, you’ll be able to “own”. Will you be able to make and execute decisions? And will you be able to take credit for the success of the projects if all goes well?

3. Learn new skills. And again, let your boss know that you’re learning them as you go. These skills will increase your value to this employer, and of course they’ll give you a leg up as you draft your resume and start looking for work outside this company.

4. Make friends. In the professional world, these are called “networking connections”, and as you go through life, these names will be your most powerful career assets and most reliable form of job security. And since relationships start with simple conversations, reach out to those around you. Chat with them. Ask smart questions and really listen to the answers. Be cheerful and pleasant company. And of course, don’t get in the way.

5. Leave with a sense of closure. On the last day of your internship, before or after your big slice of “good-luck-we’ll-miss-you” cake, sit down with your boss to review how the process went, get some measurable, meaningful feedback, and find out what your options are for returning. No matter what else you have in hand when you leave, get the promise of a recommendation. Let your boss know you’d like to use her as a reference and make sure she agrees.

For more on how to make your internship a valuable experience that can launch you into a fulfilling career, reach out to the Texas staffing pros at Expert.