[ID:0251]An internship may be your first professional job. In order to succeed, there is an array of fundamental work habits and skills that you will need to master. First, realize that professional work is all about communicating. In today's workplace, great value is placed on being able to communicate simple ideas to a wide and varied audience. Often colleges do not fully prepare students for this reality because college education is traditionally theory-based and focus is placed on retaining knowledge, not on application and building communication skills. However, communicating in the international workplace is particularly important, since these environments tend to be more formal with a greater emphasis placed on good writing. There's also the added complexity of fellow employees from all corners of the world who often communicate in ways different from you.

It is essential that international interns exhibit good communication skills. Planning, organization and people skills all merit equal focus.

Based on feedback and experiences of hundreds of recent...