When I began looking for my internship position I was really excited because I thought I finally had the chance to experience what I picture myself doing in the future. As I began talking to people about finding an internship and looking at how others were planning theirs, the stress started to kick in. I had a very clear idea in my head of what I wanted to do and how I wanted my experience to be. This was the first mistake I made. While it is normal to have expectations, when looking for an internship I learned it is so important to have an open-mind. I was looking only at opportunities which exactly matched my expectations and this made me miss a lot of chances for really fun opportunities. Especially for a first internship, employers are often already looking for people with experience so picking and choosing which positions to apply to does not get you very far.
In the end it came down to two positions, one which sounded like my dream job but was very limited in terms of responsibilities and the other which was far off from where I saw myself working but offered the chance to really experience all aspects of a role within communications. I decided to choose the second option. I was super content with my decision and was really excited for the opportunities it offered. Looking back on this decision having completed the internship, I feel the same about my choice. While the position I chose was maybe not my dream role, it pushed me to develop my skills and really allowed me to be independent in my projects and ideas. I learned that this independence was key to me actually learning skills and gaining confidence in my own abilities. I feel that were I not given these chances to explore my own creativity and lead my own project that I would have felt as inexperienced in the role as when I started. While at first it was nerve wracking to complete projects on my own, once you get a clear idea of what is expected, I could fully immerse myself into the role and I feel that this really helped me grow.
I learned a lot from my internship. I found what I want in a role, what sort of corporations I would like to work for and more importantly I found what I don’t want in a job. While this may sound as though the experience was negative, it is the opposite of that. I really enjoyed my role and made many great connections. I had great guidance and great opportunities and through experiencing my role I learned what works for me and what doesn’t. One thing I found is that working in an office five days a week from 9-5 is not something I see myself doing in the future, rather I prefer a work environment that is a little more dynamic and changes based on the task at hand. Another thing I found is that it is very important for me to have a certain level of affiliation with the brand or product which I am working with.
Overall, this experience was super valuable to me. I am really grateful for the opportunities I got and the lessons I learned. Knowing the importance of experience in getting positions in the future, I believe that the skills I got from this position and from the process of finding and applying for it will push me towards finding and reaching where I want to be in the future.