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 Profile
of Julia Johnson, Intern, KEY Group, 4/07
Photo by Alexis Yakemovic, PPW/Writing Center Publicity Intern
Story by Julia Johnson
My attitude
in the beginning of the semester was extremely positive. I was going
into my third internship, but my first one with a for-profit business.
I expected to learn a new perspective on things and be exposed to
new and different work assignments. To an extent, my expectations
were met—I'm glad I got the opportunity to work with talented
people who are great at what they do. However, as I should have
expected, several aspects of the internship were repetitive, at
times mundane, and in some instances incredibly challenging and
difficult to work through. I did learn how to tolerate the mundane
tasks more easily though, and understand that when a project I've
been working on for two months isn't used it probably isn't personal;
it's just business. And I'm glad I was able to learn that now.
My writing didn't change, at least as a result of the internship.
I wasn't being asked to write anything I didn't already know how
to do, although I did get the chance to attend a client meeting
and write a story based on my interview notes, which was interesting.
In that respect, not being challenged much caused me to sometimes
slack off, so if you find yourself in a similar situation, ask for
more challenging work. You'll probably meet deadlines easier, and
at the very least your work will get a little more interesting.
My intern site was very open and direct with communication, and
that eliminated many of the problems I could've encountered. However,
if you find yourself in a situation that is becoming unbearable,
chances are it's just a misunderstanding or could be solved in about
ten minutes of straightforward communication. So don't be afraid
to speak up, especially if you're having problems with something.
Looking back, I don't think I would've done anything drastically
different. My internship went really well, and while I had some
difficulty accepting that my original project wasn't going to be
used, I was able to get over it and focus on what I could do. Being
as positive as I could about a situation I could do nothing about
helped me, and I would strongly advise you to adopt a similar attitude
if you see some of your work ignored. It just happens.
When it comes to the class meetings, go. They're really helpful
because you get to talk to other interns about what's going on,
and the advice you will get from Pam is often invaluable. You'll
also want to keep up with your journal regularly. You don't want
to find yourself approaching mid term conferences or the final project
with little or no record of what you've done.
Overall, have fun and keep it in perspective. You have a life outside
of your internship, so don't feel obligated to work long hours or
sacrifice other priorities like school assignments just to make
your supervisor happy. On the other hand, don't slack off and consciously
submit work that you know is sub-par. Your priorities will probably
shift from week to week, but as long as you keep up with the work
and maintain a positive attitude, you'll have a great experience!
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