I work in the world of sports, and I know firsthand that a sports internship is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And that is true of an internship in any field you’re interested in. My mentor, Leigh Steinberg, gave me this advice and it has stayed with me all of these years: “Be kind to your future self.”
Nothing could be a better example of this than an internship, which not only benefits the intern but the company as well. And I’m not talking about “free labor” for the company or something you can stick on your resume for the student, I’m talking about real, lasting benefits.
Many successful interns are able to leverage their success for jobs both inside and outside the organization where they are interned. Having worked for decades in business, I’ve seen that internships, like the one program we have at Sports 1 Marketing, can help change people’s lives—and make the companies they work for better. In light of my experience, I’d like to lay out some of the benefits for both the intern and the company in order to help you understand how to be kinder to your future self.