After finishing a pivotal part of your life, your first internship in Israel, it is imperative to have good closure.
You want to keep the door open for the future while maintaining a good relationship with the people and company you worked for.
This can easily be achieved with a very small, yet on-point gesture: Writing a Thank You letter to your employer summarizing your experience and your appreciation.
Why? The primary goal is to thank your employer and the team or teams you’ve worked alongside and let them know how you appreciated the chance to learn and gain experience through them.
Also, you never know, perhaps this unique opportunity may lead you to the ‘big break’ you were hoping for professionally, being offered a full-time job or getting a wonderful recommendation letter, so you don’t want to burn any bridges and maintain a good, if not great, relationship with the people you’ve worked with.
What to Include in the Letter
Method: You can either hand in a typed letter or handwritten card. This is considered a bit more personal and giving it to them will help them remember you. However, a short or long note via email is pretty much the norm today and works just as well.
Details: Always keep the person you are writing to in mind and summarize your experience with them personally, how they gave you opportunities to improve and become a real professional. Emphasize the experiences that were most useful and positive during your internship.
Be Grateful: Express your appreciation, be direct, use the phrase ‘thank you’ in your letter. You could and should give examples of how the person helped you and what you learned from them.
Be inclusive: Give the whole team credit, even if the letter is intended for one person. Thank everyone to emphasize the importance of being a part of a team.
Wrap it up: Include all your contact information. Your goal is for your employer to remember you both on a personal and professional level, so that in the future, if you need anything from them or if they need you the relationship will be built in a way you can communicate with each other and help each other out.
Avoid these at all costs:
Negative feedback or experience: Do not mention negative sentiments about the company in your thank you letter. You may have experienced less than favorable events during your internship, but this is not the place for you to air them.
Be blunt about job hunting: You want to focus on the time you spent working, not your plans for the future, especially if it means leveraging your internship for it. People may understand what your motive is but a thank you letter is not the right setting to bring this up. Remember, the purpose of the thank you letter is to give your employer the feeling that you appreciate the time and effort they invested in you and that you are grateful for it.
Fake Flattery: Be genuine. Do not go overboard with flattery or superlatives that are not relevant to your experience. Most people will see right through your writing if you present false compliments. Focus on what you valued in your internship in Israel.
Now you are ready. Through Israel programs for young adults and Masa Israel, you gained fantastic work experience and underwent a journey that will allow you to progress both personally and professionally.
Now that you are bringing this chapter to a close, don’t forget to let the people that accompanied and guided you to be aware of your appreciation and make sure to maintain a good relationship with them.
You never know when you may want to call on them for help in finding a job in Israel or to get a recommendation letter.
