To all those who don’t know which internship may suit them best, who may not have a clue as to what they want to be after university, but also to those who do know. Because if I have learned one thing, then it’s that the right organisational culture can make even a miserable internship fun and a great internship an inspiring one.
I indeed struggled to make a choice on my internship. On the one hand I didn’t know what I want to do in my future, and on the other hand I felt the pressure that other students seemed to be hunting for big well-known companies to jump start their career with the best resume possible. Because of the latter, I had almost found myself in the headquarters of a big international tech company. But then I stumbled across an internship position at bloomon, an online flower subscription company, that above all cares about its culture. The thought of an environment which is hard working, but makes space for fun, which is supportive of each other and loves the product they work for subsequently led me to accept the position as brand and communications intern at bloomon.
Looking back, my time at bloomon not only met but exceeded my expectations. As the right hand of the project manager and producer of bloomons’ marketing campaigns I was given much responsibility from day one. My tasks included but weren’t limited to producing marketing shoots, to supporting the creative team during these very shoots, and to then managing the production of the needed marketing assets through asana. While this role made me fall in love with the role of project management and production, it was the organizations’ culture which turned my internship into an inspiring one.
According to Schein’s Model (Hoogan & Coote, 2014) organizational culture is the result of how an organizations’ values are communicated through norms (expected behavior held by members of the organization) and artifacts (the observable characteristics of an organization). Based on bloomons’ values I expected an environment in which I’d be encouraged to work hard and do my best but in which I’d also be reminded to have fun. Indeed, I quickly found myself in a team which gifted me much trust and responsibility from the start, which welcomed me like family making lunch breaks fun and working hours to especially memorable ones, which continuously encouraged me in voicing my opinion to any matter, and which supported me in further developing any (career) interests of mine.
The culture an organization claims to stand for may not always be the one it really has. But with bloomon I was lucky enough to find an organization whose values truly align with the way employees’ work (together), and the way the organization seems from the outside. So, if I can pass on one piece of advice then it’d be to choose your internship or job in accordance with a culture that fits You, that allows You to excel, and may perhaps even inspire You.
Enjoy the ride (of Your life).
References
Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein’s model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.