School & Work

Internships are often considered the best thing you can do for your career while you’re still in school. They give you that coveted “real world” experience. You can take them for credit (as I am) or if you get lucky someone might pay you for the very little you have to offer. I jest. I will never complain about interning for school credit. Why? Well, first of all, they’ve paid for some classy lunches (anything higher-end than Panera is a pretty big leap for me). Second, this is an invaluable experience. Don’t be a snob. Take the job.

I never hear people talk about what they miss while they’re not at their internship. I work every other weekday, and when I walk in there are usually new ideas all over the whiteboards. It can be tough to catch up on what you’ve missed over the past 24 hours. If you care enough, you’ll try to figure it out. I suggest that you do. However, if you ever walk in to the office and see that they’ve not only covered the whiteboards with ideas, but they’ve written over those ideas with new ideas, give up. Personally, I’ve never been good at those Magic Eye illusions, but if that’s your thing, more power to you. Maybe you could help me out sometime.

I think one of the most important things you can learn from an internship is how to transition from a school mindset to a work mindset. This is something I’m still trying to master. I’ve realized that sometimes when I’m sitting in on a brief, I treat it like a lecture at school. I don’t ask questions, don’t ask for clarification, and don’t mention when something was skipped over. You have to break yourself of this habit. Think about it. Would you rather idly sit by, finish an assignment without all the information you need, and then be reprimanded by your boss for not asking for clarification earlier, or would you rather go into an assignment knowing everything you need to know and come out of it with compliments from your impressed boss?

In school you assume the information you’re given is the only information you need to complete your task. You can’t assume the same in a workplace. One of my key takeaways from this week is that (especially as a writer) you should read the research your account planner has been reading. They’ll judge your work based on the information they have, and if you’re missing large pieces of info, your work is going to miss the mark. Plus, once you’ve got all the research in your head, starting the creative process is a little easier.