Hey y'all! This summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern at a digital marketing agency in Kansas City. As a print journalism major, it wasn't necessarily what I always envisioned myself doing, but let me just say, it was such a valuable and eyeopening experience that I'm now so thankful I jumped at the chance at. I know a lot of you are probably at the point where you're either searching for a summer internship or, if you're like me, hunting for big-girl job, so I thought now would be the perfect time to share a few of the biggest things I took away from the experience and some tips that could be helpful for those of you taking this step soon!
Takeaways
Education shouldn't stop once you graduate college. As a person who loves school/learning, the concept of it all coming to a halt once accepting my diploma kind of freaked me out. Thankfully, my internship showed me how necessary it is to continue learning both in and outside the workplace, especially in an industry that is constantly affected by emerging technology.Knowing what you don't want to do as a career is just as important as knowing what you do want to do. A really unique aspect of my internship was that the agency gave me the opportunity to explore the daily tasks of every department. As I obtained hands-on experience with all the different areas of expertise, it became very apparent to me the types of things I did not want to do in my future career, and it has proven to be very helpful in my job search now. On the flip side, it also reaffirmed how much I really enjoy writing and creating content!
Asking questions is the best thing you can do for yourself. Prior to this summer, asking questions wasn't my favorite thing in the world. Maybe it was due to my independence or inclination to be soft-spoken, but during my internship I found it so valuable to learn the reason why behind every process and decision. For example, at the beginning of my internship I found myself getting very frustrated about the use of the oxford comma (I'm a grammar nerd, I know), but it was almost a relief once I took the initiative to learn why they were so keen on using it. Overall, asking questions simply creates better understanding, which is never a bad thing!
Tips
Don't be afraid to try something that doesn't directly align with your major. This is especially true if you're having a mini-crisis about your major. Despite being a print journalism major, I somewhat recently came to the conclusion that a newspaper is not where I want to end up. Instead of completely changing my major, I decided to explore opportunities where my skills were still applicable and landed an internship where I was able to try writing content for digital platforms. For me, deciding to delineate from what is typically expected proved to be very valuable in determining what I want to do after graduation, and it could be for you, too!
Communicate your goals at the beginning. I am very thankful to have had a mentor during my internship that was truly invested in my experience. During my first week, we took the time to map out my goals for the summer – such as acquiring particular certifications, knowledge and experience – and then, throughout the entire summer, she constantly checked in on my progress. I think it's important to create this open line of communication with your mentor/supervisor from the beginning because it truly does help you get the most out of your internship!
Become friends with the other interns. If you're lucky enough to have other interns at the place you're interning, do yourself a favor and become friends with them. I promise it will make the whole experience so much more enjoyable! They're in the same boat as you, so they're likely experiencing similar feelings of confusion, excitement and awkwardness. Rather than going through and figuring out everything alone, I found it extremely nice to have the other interns to turn to!
If you've had an internship, what is your biggest takeaway or tip? Everyone's experience is so different, so I'd love to know in the comments below!
If you've had an internship, what is your biggest takeaway or tip? Everyone's experience is so different, so I'd love to know in the comments below!
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