What I have learned in my Internship and why you should take one
09:11
My original plan was to blog the whole way through my internship but as this is a full time job it has proven difficult.
I now have around 4 months left and I don't want to leave. I've had so much fun here I've laughed, I've travelled, I've cried and I've been teetering on the edge of a breakdown at one point, and I
wouldn't have it any other way!
Reasons to make time for an internship:
- Sick (in a good way) looking C.V, an internship shows you are dedicated, professional and actually have "real life" experience.
- If you go back to uni afterwards it actually helps you to understand the theory better as you can relate it to something that happened.
- Office skills, this isn't just how to make a killer cuppa but its about office/meeting presence and the day to day little inner workings that you normally wouldn't see.
- The possibly to earn while you learn! If you are lucky enough to get a paid internship this could seriously help you manage those coins.
- Stress management, I'm not going to lie your going to stress out, big time. This is a good thing though, once something has happened or something has gone wrong you learn what not to do next time and you can learn how to manage the situation, this is key in life and work.
An internship is definitely the best thing I could have done for my personal development and for my career. When you work physically in an office or at an event you learn so much more that you would in a control group exercise at uni.
So once you have, of course, taken my brilliant advice of bagging yourself a top internship here is what to know when you start...
BE ORGANISED - I'm not exaggerating when I say this is key! When you are juggling a load of work and things keep dropping, yeah you haven't organised. Failing to plan is planning to fail. My top tip? To Do Lists. They are a life safer, not only should you write what you need to do for the next day but whenever anyone asks you to do anything, write it down or get them to email you because even if you say you will not forget, you might. Getting them to email also means no mis-communication or saying someone said something they didn't.
GO THE EXTRA MILE - I don't mean all the time but every now and again make sure you do something extra or help someone else out with there work load, showing you don't just care about your own work and that you don't just scrape by doing the bare minimum. This included attention to detail, something that is not that important to you, like PowerPoint layouts (the bane of a PR job) maybe supper important to your manager.
BE OPEN - If you have by chance make a mistake, don't try hide it or lie as this may make it worse and knock peoples confidence in you. Be open to criticism as this is your greatest opportunely to see your self through the eyes of your peers. when dealing with something for a collage make sure you let them in and constantly update them, even if you think it is over sharing because it will show them you are on top of it.
YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE - One of the brilliant things about my company is when I show my team that I can take on responsibilities they recognise it, and give me more. Therefore building up my credibility and people will start trusting me with more things. Don't shy away from this, responsibility may be scary and it scares the living day lights out of me but when you get praise for doing a good job its so worth it, and if you don't then its an excellent learning curve.
LEAN IN - Get involved, ask questions, provoke ideas and stay on top of everything. In my department for example we have a lot of different categories and it is always good to know what is happening in them all, even if you aren't working on it, because they might suddenly need help and you can jump in and save the day! If something is a miss or you have an idea of how something can work better, don't be afraid to raise your voice because that thing your thinking, maybe they haven't thought of?
MAKE LOTS OF FRIENDS - Sounds odd I know but that friend you met at the coffee machine may be your ticket to saving a future event or getting a helping hand. This can work well for when you finish also, stay in touch after your internship and it could prove to be a life saver somewhere down the line.
DON'T TAKE THE P - Obvious ones like... don't be hungover; don't slack off; don't arrive late and leave early; don't be rude; don't try hide a mistake; don't take a 3 hour lunch and don't gossip!
That's it really!
If anyone needs any help/advice or anything else, just give me a social media buzz and I'd be happy to oblige.
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