Moving Forward After Graduation, an Internship Reflection

I knew I should have an internship on my resume, but where to start? When I first received internship emails from school I would read all of the details about the company and what would be gained from their internship experience. After five emails I learned that most of them did not apply to me.  Kent would send an email with a list of three to five internships which I would quickly scan to find a fatal flaw. Not that these internships were flawed, per se, just not for me. There would be internships for accounting majors (I hate math), internships in Kentucky during the school year (I live in North East Ohio), internships with forty hours a week (I take classes and require sleep). Where could I go to find an internship that suited my needs but didn’t have a fatal flaw?

As it turns out I had a trivial assignment for a computer class. Did you know those classes are a requirement? The assignment was to search information technology jobs on monster.com. While finishing that assignment I started looking into internships for myself. I applied to several local internships and received a call the next day! I was so excited, this wasn’t as hard as I thought. I was not near my phone and I did not call them back immediately. The next day was Saturday. “I’ll call Monday,” I thought. During the weekend this particular company urgently emailed me demanding I contact them immediately. They seemed a little too urgent and a little bit like a scam. I didn’t return their call. I did however, get a call from Rebecca Adele PR & Events.

Becki asked me when I was available for an interview and we set a date. I was very impressed with her office and with her business. I’m a business major and from the beginning of my courses business professors tell their students that most entrepreneurs don’t make it and most startup businesses fail. Well, here was Becki with her own business and a cute, girly office and she was successful!

I chose this internship because I enjoy sewing and crafty things and figured as a millennial I would be able to learn any technological things I was unfamiliar with. I did learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Schedugram and Sprout Social which would be expected during a social media internship. I learned things I did not expect to learn. I learned how to write shorter, more concise pieces. I have learned how to manage my time effectively. I have learned how to delegate work based on strengths in a team. I have also learned how to organize a workload in the most efficient manner possible. I could list social media writing, press releases and event planning, but learning how to work with others in a dynamic environment and how to manage assignments has been even more valuable and has taught me a lot about myself.

I hope to find a career starting 2016 and am fortunate that Becki called me for this internship. Becki told me that when she was in school she had an internship with a prestigious company where she did data entry. I am glad that I received hands on experience and actually learned something. I hope to find a career in an international business capacity and hope the skills I learned in school and at this internship will help me in my career.

Written by Stephanie Wells of Rebecca Adele PR & Events