Tomorrow I begin my second internship of my college career, which as it ends becomes the beginning to my real career. This spring semester I will be an assistant publicist at an agency here in Chicago. I feel like it could be something great.
Things I want to accomplish as an intern
1. Be of value
2. Show reliability
3. Take notes along the way
One way I want to take note of these things is by blogging, hence this post. Im very conscience of how exactly I choose to write in this blog. More than conscience I think I am frightened. The monster under the bed of this fear is the dreaded diary-esque entry. For this reason I will base this WordPress on landmarks that occur during my search for my post-graduate work/career. This is entirely feasible, yes?
Early to bed, early to rise.
emiddl1
Good luck with your first day! Here are a few tips I would offer you:
1. Double check everything. Facts, figures and spellings.
2. Be sure to proofread your writing – even the e-mails you send to coworkers.
3. Carry a notebook with you at all times. Then you’ll always be prepared for when people give you an assignment.
4. Be 10 minutes early every day. I always say that being exactly on time is actually like being 10 minutes late.
5. Be careful about blogging. You don’t want to discuss clients specifically or anything confidential without permission.
6. Encourage criticism. You need to know what you’re doing wrong in order to grow. And, don’t take any of it personally because usually they want to help you.
I look forward to hearing about your experiences!
First off, congratulations on landing an internship! I think documenting your experiences on your blog is a great idea. That way, you can not only keep track of your progress, but you can also seek advice from others and perhaps provide guidance to students who are going through similar experiences.
It is completely normal to have the jitters and be a little nervous, but take comfort in the fact that you were offered the position for a reason.
I think three of my top internship-starting tips would be…
1. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
2. Ask for more work when you need it and offer to take on additional jobs (even odd ones), if you can handle them.
3. Learn from your mistakes and don’t try to hide it if/when you do make them.
Although I haven’t been keeping up on my posts as much as I’d like, I think you might find my blog valuable as I’ve documented some of the lessons that I’ve learned throughout my internships. You can check it out at http://www.inthelede.blogspot.com.
Good luck with everything and let me know if I can be of any more help!
Rachel adds some great insight, especially about confidentiality and being careful what you say on your blog. I’ve seen a few horror stories of interns that have really put their foot in their mouth before…
Angela – you’re right about that! My last internship actually had a talk with me right during my first week, letting me know what I could and couldn’t blog about.
If there is something you want to blog about, just ask first!
I’ve also written a lot about internships on my blog – http://www.rachelmesterline.com/blog. All my contact info is on there too, so feel free to e-mail/tweet/FB me if you ever want to bounce ideas off me (or vent about internships, ha ha!).