I work with a LOT of interns and they always have the BEST questions!

I thought I would give back to all the interns who have worked for me and have coached with me . . . here are some great responses (from colleagues) who experienced a classy goodbye from an intern:

Intern:

"You can say farewell to everyone individually, you can send a mass email with all of your contact information, or, what I recommend, do both."

Long-ago Intern, Now Employed:

"The ones you are familiar with, say goodbye, the ones you dont talk to, to hell with them, and to your boss give them wine/candy and a thank you card (they may want to hire you after that!)."

Current Intern:

"Most people will come in to your office and say something to you throughout the day. You can give a general "thank you so much for making me feel welcome and making this a great experience". You bring up specific instances when they helped you like "Thank you for teaching me all those Excel commands!" or refer to an inside joke you might share. I was always told "hopefully we'll see you around here full-time next year".

A Past Intern, Now an Executive:

"During one internship, I walked around throughout the afternoon and stopped to chat with each person and said goodbye. I wrote a personalized thank-you note to every employee I interacted with to thank them for the various things they did for me and left it at their desk at the end of the day. When I ran into coworkers and bosses later on, every one of them brought up those thank-you notes and said they were impressed and everyone was so excited to receive one."

So take the time and say goodbye personally and send a thank-you note. It works.