What They Don’t Tell You About Internships
Don’t let the title fool you- this is an extraordinarily positive post! To remind you, I’m Brittany Blackman and I’m a marketing intern at PetNovations Inc. PetNovations Inc is the parent company to the brand CatGenie. The CatGenie is the world’s first and only self-cleaning litter box, equipped with reusable granules. PetNovations is responsible for sales and marketing, and customer service for the CatGenie in North America.
There are a few things that happened at my internship in the month that I’ve been there that I wasn’t aware would happen.
Adapting Quickly
One of the main things that I wasn’t prepared for was just how quickly I’d have to learn and adapt. Despite the fact that you’re an intern, your peers have a ton of high expectations and respect for you, which means sometimes you may be uncomfortable with a task, and you will doubt yourself, but, what I’ve recently learned is how quickly I actually can pick things up. Before this, I always thought I was a slow learner and I had a ton of anxiety about getting work done quickly enough, since I was learning so many new things. However, the reason I learned all the new programs and technology we used…was because I had to. You underestimate your ability to work under pressure before you’re in an internship, but believe me, it starts to come quick, and it gets easier every day.
Relationship Building
For some reason, before going into this, I just expected me to be the intern and to keep to myself. However, I have grown to really love my coworkers, and the feeling is mutual. Since our office has a tight knit staff, it was intimidating walking into an environment where I was the outsider. However, after being there for only two weeks, they threw me a little birthday party with cupcakes and gifts. I was blown away. You’re so intimidated by the whole career thing, and the process, that you forget that these are human beings too. I’m going to be crushed when I’m done there, because I love being around my coworkers so much, especially my boss.
Self Love
Okay, stay with me now. Not to be cheesy, but this internship has made me respect myself so much. I have grown to be such a responsible…adult?! Yes, this experience has made me look at myself as a real adult. When I’m driving down 76 at 8am to my marketing job, I sit and think to myself, (in standstill traffic) “Wow, I can’t believe I’m at this point in my life, and I’m enjoying it,” I love every minute of it. I am at peace with myself because of all of the responsibility I’ve taken on, and how well I’m handling it. It’s extremely validating to know that I’m going to work, and doing good work every day. I have such a new-found love for myself, and you will too. If you don’t think that you’re ready to handle this new chapter, trust me, you are. I never thought this internship would make me look completely differently, but it did.
Brittany, I could not have agreed more with your post! Learning how to adapt was a big fear of mine…if I would get a hold of it right away or not always psyched me out. After learning the atmosphere you work in and get the basics under your belt you are off to the races, well that’s at least what I learned. I think breaking out of your comfort zone and dealing with different situations helped with adapting quickly. That also goes hand and hand with relationship building. For me my first summer at my internship we had a handful of interns so right away you are kind of forced to join teams with them and build relationships and connections. Once that is stable, working with the other interns to meet people in the business, clients, and other creatives in the city came as a fun experience especially in what I was working, PR and talent management. Self love, it’s all about self love and giving yourself credit when credit is due! Good job, Brittany!