When a student must write a certain number of pages for their term paper, they often increase the font and margins to compensate for lack of content. That's kind of what this book feels like. It's 72 pages, but some of those are blank ("for you to take notes in") and other pages have wide margins and lots of white space. Honestly, if each "chapter" (one is only 4 paragraphs long) were a blog post, this would make a nice series on a career blog. As it is, it's not nearly enough for a book. And honestly, some of the advice is just not that good. Telling interns (paid or unpaid? The author doesn't really go over the basics of internships) to stay late or come in on weekends to clean the supply closet, unbidden, so that they can be "irreplaceable" since they'll know where everything is and others won't, is just bad advice. It may violate labor laws, company policies, or just corporate culture, depending on where you're working. There is a note all the way at the end to ask permission before you do something, but that's assuming readers will make it that far. Other points, like "find your niche," may not apply for someone interning in large corporation, non-profit, or other role that has very specific expectations. And other important behaviors that an intern should learn, like "managing up" or asking for feedback from supervisors, are not covered. Maybe the author should have brought in contributions from more experienced workers or professionals from other industries.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

This book included some practical advice! I think some recommendations are more easily attainable in certain settings, but making yourself an asset is such an important part that really seals the deal! Formatting was off but I think that would be fine in a print version or corrected in final version of the ebook. Enjoyed overall!

I read this book as a seasoned professional to brush up on any new techniques. This book didn’t really tell me anything innovative but I can see how it can MAYBE help the fresh intern.

I enjoyed reading about Brandon’s experiences of the workplace, especially given his passion for success! I think the book could offer more practical, rather than anecdotal, advice, in order to be even more useful.

A folksy guide for new graduates just entering the workplace. The author uses his recent experience as an intern to give advice on everything from cleaning the supply room to making yourself indispensable. I didn't agree with everything he suggested (interns should not be coming in unpaid on the weekend to clean! this is potentially a labor law violation, not to mention the company may not want them to be there after hours), but this slim volume will give a confidence boost to those with their first entry-level job or internship.

Brandon has written an excellent book geared toward the new graduate who is embarking on a new internship or job.. Easy to read and conversational.

I am not going to let the fact that I'm having a pretty bad day impact my review writing. I'd also like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my unbiased review.

So the thing about this book is that it doesn't particularly work as a book. At 72 pages, it would have been much better served as a blog post. In fact, reading it, I began to question what made the author decide to write this. I fear that after finishing it, I still do not have my answer.

In essence, this is a list of 5 ways to be a better intern. Now, I'm not actually interning now or even considering that so maybe I'm not the target audience for this. However, I have interned in the past and some of his advice struck me as odd.

Hoffmann repeatedly suggests that tidying up areas of your workplace will make you a better intern. Among the lists of benefits of this, he says that once you are in charge of the organization, people will have to ask for your help and therefore, you'll be irreplaceable to the workplace.

Now, I'm not a huge manager but I can say this, as someone who is in charge of stuff in their workplace, if you show up and mess up my organization, I will be very much annoyed. I don't care if everything is labeled, there's a reason why things are organized in a specific manner. An intern who's been there for a brief time might not understand the reason for this yet and therefore, ruin everything.

Beyond that, this piece of advice reeks of arrogance. You're coming as an intern and you just decide that you can entirely reorder a supply room? People who have been working there for a while may be forced to ask for your advice as to where things are but I get the feeling that they will see it more like, "ugh, the intern reorganized everything, I can't find my stuff" and less of a "wow, what a great intern, now I get to spend part of my day asking them where they put my things, this is great, they are so important to us".

Beyond that, some of the advice he suggests here just isn't things that I would suggest. If you ask me (I get the feeling that Hoffmann and I might have the same level of credentials when it comes to writing advice for interns), I would say that talking to people in your workplace is one of the best things you can do. Using this opportunity as a way to ask the questions about the field, to learn about the advantages and disadvantages, to hear stories and understand the industry. I think that's truly the most important advice for an intern.

Other than that, I did definitely agree with the idea of volunteering and such but also, I can't help but feel like you shouldn't be groveling for an entrance. In my experience, when you show up with a good attitude, that makes more of a difference than when you just show up and essentially beg for any type of work.

Hoffmann never clarifies whether he's talking about paid or unpaid internships which is a problem. As I see it, if you're doing an unpaid internship, the workplace should absolutely try and make it worth your time. You're there because you want to learn, I think your manager should entirely try and find how to make sure you're accomplishing your goals as well.

Anyways, do I recommend this? In this great age of internet, I get the feeling that if you'll google "internship tips" you will get better advice. It's a brief read and I feel like I'm cheating by adding it to my reading challenge.

What I'm Taking With Me
- The author does have an accessible voice, I do think he could find a better subject matter and do a good job.
- We can't all be the best interns so who will be the best-est of all the best interns?
- The cover looks pretty good tho.