What I Didn’t Expect to Learn From My Internship

Over the summer and during this fall semester, I have been social media marketing intern at Fox Business School’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations on Temple’s main campus in Philadelphia, PA. Having this internship has taught me many things about social media and content creation, but I didn’t expect to learn so many skills that would help me in this position, and beyond.

My First Internship

Like many students, I struggled finding an internship for a long time. When I received an offer from the Development and Alumni Relations Office, I was ecstatic, but nervous. This was my first internship, the first time I was working in an office, and I knew I was going to do it for credit. I started over the summer, and there were usually very few people in the office, but I was in almost every day.

Also, the previous social media intern was still working there. She had graduated, and was staying until August. I was happy to have someone be able to show me the ropes and answer my questions, but also I couldn’t work on as much as I wanted to. Over the summer, there was not much to post about anyway, so there was even less work to split.

What I Learned

Social media has been a part of my life, like many young adults, for years. Having an eye to create graphics and posts has been a skill I’ve been cultivating for a long time, so while I have learned many things from this internship, the learning curve came mostly from understanding how to operate in the office.

I’ve seen The Office, and I thought I was prepared. While it’s not an incredibly different world, learning how to navigate bureaucracy, making sure each letter sent is tracked and scanned and accounted for, and not being afraid to ask questions were all new ideas to me. Mostly, asking questions seemed like a failure on my part at first. I felt like I should be entirely self-sufficient, but every person in the office had a different expertise that they had been working in for years. Understanding that asking questions was more like using my resources rather than being helpless was a turning point in my mindset.

Final Thoughts

I’m so grateful to have had this experience. Learning how to conduct myself in a professional setting has been invaluable experience, especially while being able to be creative with social media and content creation. For anyone starting a job or internship in the office for the first time, don’t be afraid to ask questions!