The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This summer I had the opportunity to intern at a large company right outside of my hometown. Initially, I was nervous to work at such a well-know company, in an industry I knew fairly little about. I quickly realized that it was okay to have little knowledge, because I would learn a lot more as my time went on at the internship.
I had to remind myself that I received the job because the team felt that I qualified for the position. If they believed I was the best fit, they must value some of my skills and prior experience. From the job description, I knew I would have to use some of the knowledge I gained in school. My background as a communications major fit the skills needed for the position, which was enough to land me the internship, even if I didn’t know a lot about the industry I was working in.
I did learn a little bit about the company, its lines of business, and the different types of customers it served. In my role, I didn’t need to know as much about specifics in the industry. Instead, I used my writing and interviewing skills heavily over the course of the summer.
I also gained a lot of knowledge and experience in ways that I wasn’t expecting. The internship was hybrid, so I had the opportunity to work in a huge corporate office downtown. Professionalism was an important strength that I learned I had—arriving early, being attentive during meetings, and being courteous of others’ time, are skills I didn’t realize I possessed until I was actually performing them.
Understanding what it was like to work in the hybrid-corporate world was a big eye-opener. Even learning smaller things, such as unfamiliar programs like Microsoft Teams, learning how to schedule meetings and learning how to reserve a cubical in the office was good practice for future jobs.
Networking and meeting other professionals and interns within the organizations and from other companies in the area was a great way to learn about other people’s career journeys and the current roles that people hold.
I was kept busy with assignments and projects to work on throughout the summer. One of my favorites was writing a blog article about my experience in my department and what skills I had gained. It was really helpful to gain feedback from the other people on my team on the article. I followed their suggestions and made changes that made the article stronger.
It was neat to understand how the review and approval process worked for the internal communication blog. The article had to be review by my team, my team manager and my manager’s supervisor before it could be sent to corporate communications for edits.
I learned a lot from this internship. I especially learned a lot about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses and how I can grow and improve. It was a great experience.
I was very nervous when I started. I thought I wouldn’t do well because I doubted myself about how much I knew about the industry. It’s important to remember that everyone is always learning. I highly recommend putting yourself out there so you can learn.