When I was at frog I brought Quinn Huffstetler (Behance) on as an intern. I had an inter opening, he had been out of school and working at a firm but applied anyway. I told him I couldn’t make any promises about it turning into more and he told me he didn’t care, just wanted the opportunity to prove himself. A few weeks in it became evident that he was worth his weight in gold and I began the process of politicking hard to convert him to full time. Before the 3 month span of the internship was over I was able to bring him on full time.
What did he do that convinced me so quickly to do this:
- took every possible task as an opportunity to over deliver no matter what
- got to work early, left late
- took the time to get to know leadership and understand what we needed
All of these things made it easy to convince the company to open up a headcount for him
I also recommend you be clear with your expectations. Ask for a review at the 3 or 4 month mark and ask for the opportunity to be made a full time employee at that time. Putting in a little extra isn’t bad as long as you get what you need in return.