The 9-5 office job dealing with pins- and no, not Pinterest.

My summer internship is with Hamilton Jewelers, however in the insignia and business gifts department.  Hamilton has retail stores throughout the US, a corporate office in New Jersey and an insignia department in Philly- right along Broad St.  The commute is great, and I love what I have been doing, however explaining to people what I do is very confusing.  Hamilton Insignia deals with a very niche market and makes all of the insignia (pins, medals, jewelry, sashes) for organizations like Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of Indian Wars.  In my interview my bosses compared these organizations to me as “Girl Scouts- times ten”.  The woman who belong to these organizations (there are organizations for men too) are very passionate and dedicated, and I get to speak to many of them.  Although this is not an advertising internship but more of a business internship, I took it because there is room for growth within the company.  They have a marketing department, and their social media sites are slowly blooming.  At times, the work can be slow, but there is so much to learn and memorize here.  I have been here for 4 weeks and I am still learning the computer system and trying to memorize each organization’s specific pins.  The one thing I did not have that I think would have been really helpful is a training of some sort.  My boss gave me a walk-through of the office and a quick overview of the computer system, but since then it has just been me pestering everyone with a massive amount of questions.  But, how else would I have learned?  The thing I love about this internshp is that I do not feel like an intern at all!  I am doing what everyone else in the office does, which is a really nice feeling.  Everyone here is just  great, and there is a wide variety of ages, which I definitely like.  My next blog will include what this internship has taught me and all about a 9-5 job in the real world.