By Sara St. Clair
I was a summer intern for the Blackford County Community Foundation in Hartford City, Indiana. They are a non-profit organization working to strengthen the community and what it has to offer.
When I began my internship, I was given my job description with a list of tasks I should be able to complete before the summer was over and my internship ended. To be honest, it was nerve-racking at first, and I was overwhelmed with other things happening in my life. However, I learned quickly that I would give my internship high priority and work diligently to do what I could do best. As the summer went on, I finished many projects and received great feedback from my supervisor. What you probably didn’t know is 85 percent of the projects I completed were not in my original job description nor on my list of things to be accomplished. The greatest thing I learned at my internship is that everyday is a new day. You may have something random thrown at you, and that’s okay.
You may go into your internship or job thinking there are concrete plans and that you will be focusing on certain projects, when in reality, life changes and your job will change with it. You may need to write a press release for an event you didn’t know would be special until a large amount of people got involved. You may have an entire section of the website to recreate one day because someone accidentally deleted a page. You never know what will pop up at your job, and that’s the fun of it. I also had other random projects because I took the initiative to develop them and run the ideas by my supervisor. Don’t always stick to the list, but do overachieve because that’s where you will discover the most reward.
Lastly, remember to let go of all your preconceived notions and let life happen. If you are a robot and strategically planning your next move, you could come off as fake and not genuine. You want your work to represent your company in the best light possible. Be flexible and go with the flow. It also allows you to be less stressed about what may happen in the future.
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