Internship First-Week Plan
Prepare for your first day, set learning goals, and agree on how to work with your team.
- Outline
- 4 guided steps
- Practice
- 12 writing prompts
- Keep your work
- Save or download
Before you begin
Use your first week to learn how the team works and what your supervisor expects. Check first-day details, prepare questions, and discuss a few learning goals. Ask when a schedule, policy, or task is unclear.
Your working draft
0 of 12 prompts answered
Save & downloadWork through one step at a time. Progress counts answered prompts, not the quality of your work. Save or download when you’re ready.
Step 1 of 4
Confirm first-day logistics
Review the offer and onboarding messages. If a detail is missing, ask the designated contact before the start date. Keep required documents secure and provide sensitive information only through the organization's approved process.
Step 2 of 4
Draft three learning goals
Write goals as starting points for discussion, not promises. Connect each goal to a skill, a possible work activity, and evidence you could review with your supervisor. Adjust them after you understand the team's actual priorities.
Step 3 of 4
Ask how the team works
Use an early supervisor conversation to clarify priorities, communication channels, feedback cadence, meeting norms, and how to raise blockers. Ask where official policies live rather than relying on assumptions or another intern's memory.
Step 4 of 4
Create a private weekly record
At the end of each day, note tasks, decisions, questions, and feedback in a place permitted by the organization. Record only what you need for reflection. Do not copy confidential data, private conversations, assessment content, credentials, or internal files into a personal system.
Use what you’ve written
Turn a learning goal into a project
Plan a small project around a skill you want to practice. Confirm with your supervisor what work can be shared. Plan a portfolio project
Read the complete worksheet
Confirm first-day logistics
Review the offer and onboarding messages. If a detail is missing, ask the designated contact before the start date. Keep required documents secure and provide sensitive information only through the organization's approved process.
- Arrival or login time, location, and contact:
- Dress, equipment, access, transportation, or remote-work details:
- Required forms or tasks, with the official submission method:
Draft three learning goals
Write goals as starting points for discussion, not promises. Connect each goal to a skill, a possible work activity, and evidence you could review with your supervisor. Adjust them after you understand the team's actual priorities.
- Skill or area you want to understand:
- Project, task, or observation that could build it:
- What progress might look like by the midpoint or end?
Ask how the team works
Use an early supervisor conversation to clarify priorities, communication channels, feedback cadence, meeting norms, and how to raise blockers. Ask where official policies live rather than relying on assumptions or another intern's memory.
- Top priorities for your role this week:
- Preferred channel and response expectations for questions:
- Check-in schedule, feedback process, and backup contact:
Create a private weekly record
At the end of each day, note tasks, decisions, questions, and feedback in a place permitted by the organization. Record only what you need for reflection. Do not copy confidential data, private conversations, assessment content, credentials, or internal files into a personal system.
- What did you learn about the role or organization?
- What did you complete, and what evidence may you retain?
- What needs clarification at the next check-in?
Keep learning
An original InternshipDeadlines worksheet. These sources offer further guidance; their inclusion does not imply endorsement.