Internship 101: What I learned

Photo via geoawesomeness.com

It is official. Summer is coming to close. It is getting breezier and pumpkin spice lattes are in the hands of everyone strolling through Strozier. These past few weeks of the early semester left me with a lot of reflecting about my summer and the moves I made in my internship. Here’s what I learned and the TRUTH about a first internship.

A first internship can be a daunting thought. What do I wear? How do I act? How do I get there? And how on EARTH do I do what they just asked me to accomplish? I can’t say I wasn’t extremely nervous on my first day and even pretty skittish on days that followed. However, regardless if your internship is the best experience of your life or your first thought in the morning waking up is how you’d rather be doing anything other than this, someone once told me every experience is a good experience. I have zero complaints about my internship at Thrillist, a start up company formed seven years ago by two guys Ben and Adam.  Thrillist is a men’s digital lifestyle brand that sells media and advertising. I interned for a little over two months, two days a week, commuting from my quaint house in New Jersey to the big leagues-New York City. I learned a lot of various office tasks in addition to many event planning skills, (the department where I worked) and many lessons that only your first internship can teach you.

1. Buddha was able to reach enlightenment because he never had to endure public transportation.

I can only quote Dorothy and say “Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.”  People traveling to work do not give a flying pig about anything except getting to work.  Traveling to work is a drag and majority of the people you see on your bus/train/taxi/subway ride will not be pleasant.  Many people are in such a hurry that they will not even notice when they step hard on your baby toe or bump your shoulder so that your coffee spills on your shirt.  It’s fine.  Keep moving and smile.  Kill people with your smile and ability to shake it off.  Kill the lady with a smile that asks you to turn down your Ipod before the train has even started moving because you mistakenly got onto the “quiet car” of the train.  Kill the man (with your smile) who is walking so slowly on the street that you miss your train.  It will only ruin your day not theirs.

2. Bring stuff to do. You will have down time.

Whether you intern two, three, or five days a week, there will be days that the clock can not move fast enough.  I suggest bringing books, magazines, and going on several news sites as much as you can.  Surfing Facebook and twitter looks unprofessional, as does refreshing and refreshing your Instagram and constantly texting on your phone, so try to spend time on sites that you can learn something from or at the very least laugh at funny videos.  Even if you feel like you’re internship is a complete waste of time and you are learning next to nothing, go on news sites and learn about the world.  I found that I prefer reading about the world news rather than watching corny newscasters.

3. You are never annoying.

This is probably the most vital piece of advice I can give when it comes to your career.  The first few days can be awkward in any new environment but the way to diminish the awkwardness is to get involved.  As an intern, just as you are getting acquainted with your co-workers, remember they are also getting used to you.  If you are bored and have nothing to do, shoot an email to your team asking if there is anything you can help them with.  They will be impressed by your assertiveness and nine times out of ten they will have something for you to do, even it is minor.  I used to be afraid that I was annoying my bosses when I would repeatedly ask if they needed help with tasks or when I purposely walked past their desks slowly just to make sure they remembered I was there, but I wasn’t.  When was the last time you were criticized for being too helpful?  You are there to work and the allotted hours you have to stay will go by much faster if you keep busy, not to mention making a good impression on your bosses simultaneously.