Calling All Interns

I’m taking a stand.

I’m tired of feeling like I have to justify my position to misinformed skeptics.

I’m tired of having to break through misconceptions before people who I talk to about what I do get it.

No, I’m not running to fetch the boss the morning coffee or relegated to menial and pointless tasks because my uncle pulled some strings on my behalf.

Yes, I’m an intern, and I’m damn proud of it.

It’s been one month since I began my journey on the ‘ship at Weber Shandwick in Chicago and there are two thoughts that stand out above all:

1. Holy hell, it’s been a month?! Where have the last 4 1/2 weeks gone? AND
2. This is one of the most rewarding experiences of my young life, and I couldn’t be happier with the places my journey has taken me thus far.

I’m getting to do some incredible things for national brands, join in on brainstorms and, most important, I feel like a valued part of each of my teams. Even better, I’m getting paid to do it! My stance on paid vs. unpaid internships is another post for another day, but my point is this:

The internship has undergone a transformation. Gone are the days where ‘intern’ was synonymous with ‘pawn’. Particularly with the down economy (which is showing signs of recovery), more companies in more industries are using interns as a valued part of the team. Internships are now an integral stepping stone on the path of the young professional in many fields.

Remember, today’s interns are tomorrows CEOs, so take the steps you need to now to find, land, and OWN the internship that steer you in the right direction for your career. Need help? That’s my middle name. Or at least my favorite past time.

CALLING ALL INTERNS!

To help rebrand the rejuvenated internship, I’m asking interns from all walks to stand up and declare, “Yes, #ImAnIntern” on Wednesday, May 12 at 9pm EST/8 c, on Twitter. Let your voice be heard as eager students join the conversation to learn what it means to be an intern. Share the knowledge you’ve accrued in your experience and help be a part of building a better workforce for the future of your industry. If you’re less forward thinking, save yourself the pain of training them on EVERYTHING later when they eventually get hired.

CALLING ALL INTERN WANNABES!

Given the logical way in which we’re taught to read, I’m going to assume that you’ve read the immediately preceding paragraph (if not, it’s right there, go ahead- I’ll wait) and jump to the relevant bit: Send us your questions! What do you want to know about finding, securing and rocking an internship? Get the knowledge straight from the collective horse’s mouth. If you’ve got a great question you’re afraid you’ll lose, head to the new Brazen Careerist network “INTERNal Affairs” (http://brazencareerist.com/network/internalaffairs) and post your queries in advance.

And don’t forget to tell your friends- the more experiences we can draw from, the more everyone benefits.

I can’t wait to hear from you guys!

Intern Report 2: Living the Dream

I can honestly say that I’ve never been this broke in my life. I put myself through four years of college with minimal (but much appreciated) help, but have never approached the level of ‘I’m broke’ as that in which I currently sit. And I couldn’t be happier.

Sure, I don’t have enough money to buy food this week (I’ve got bread and peanut butter at work, and the Corner Bakery downstairs has jelly for free) and I’ve been wearing the same contact lenses since at least December (significantly longer than the two weeks they’re meant to be worn) but guess what: I’m living in the third biggest city in the United States, working for one of the world’s biggest and best PR agencies, getting to create the social media voice of national brands and working with some truly wonderful people. I’ve got 10 pounds I could afford to lose anyway, right?

The point of this post is this: once you find the dream, pursue it at any cost. Granted- there is a possibility that in several months time I will be completely contradicting this post. Destitute, heart broken, jaded, cast out on the street and damning everything I ever wrote about optimism and pursuing goals. But right now, despite the potentially bleak conditions in which I find myself, I know in my heart that it’s just a step toward something incredible. I’ve already gotten a taste of what’s possible in my first two weeks at Weber, and I can’t wait for the Social Media Club Chicago event at the end of this month. After years of reading about PR and Social Media, I’m on the front lines- helping to draft content, establish personality and think how to communicate strategically on behalf of nationwide brands. Pardon my supreme nerd-dom, but this is AWESOME!

So keep your fingers crossed that Weber and the angels of the Culture Club (the folks behind the wonderful things that give #WSCHI such a welcoming environment) decide to bring free food this week, or that a great uncle I’ve never met leaves me a sizeable fortune. Or at least that I find some motivation and crank out some freelance articles to get a couple bucks to buy a sandwich. If not, at least I’ll look a  little thinner for beach season.

I think our friends from Monty Python had it right.

And so it begins

Have you ever had one of those days where it just felt like everything was lining up in your favor? Where you hit every green light, there’s someone holding the door for you wherever you’re headed and then you find $5? My first day of work as an intern with Weber Shandwick in Chicago (read: yesterday) did not start off as one of those days. It started with the night before.

I had every intention of being a responsible, intelligent human being and went to bed at a reasonable hour, knowing full well that I was to be at work the next morning at 8:30. Wanting to be impressive, I was going to show up at 8:00 to show that I was extra eager to begin. The clock struck 11 pm and I knew it was time to be hitting the hay. I jumped into my brand new bed, covered up, closed my eyes and quickly drifted off to slumberland. For about 45 minutes.

Though I’m not sure what it was that woke me up, there was no returning to the peace I had been enjoying. Aside from being extremely excited for my new job, my roommate (still a senior in college) and her friend were over talking and watching South Park. Since I was far too awake to attempt to sleep, I joined them for what I had planned to be about 15 minutes. Unfortunately for my chances at having an overwhelmingly good day, my quick 15 continued to evolve and grow larger like a magic sponge you get for a quarter in Taco Bells in bad neighborhoods. By the time I finally recommitted myself to the mattress, it was (much to my utter horror and total dismay) right around 6:00 am. To make matters worse, when my alarm went off 45 minutes later I, Dexter boy genius thought it wise to hit the snooze button (sorry Dad).

At 7:30 I awoke in terror. After the world’s fastest shower, I ran downstairs intending to grab the next Red Line (the train two blocks from my apartment for those not familiar with Chicago) but instead hopped on the bus that pulled up in front of my door. For those looking to move to Chicago, it’s always good to know the route before you hop on any CTA bus. In this case, I did not- I only knew I saw the words Michigan and Express and that was good enough for me in my panicked state.

I watched as time painstakingly crept forward at what felt like an alarming rate when we finally stopped picking up additional riders and got on the expressway. Not a complete idiot, I had the smarts to check my phone and see what stop would be best for me to depart the bus. Like a complete idiot, I checked the wrong bus. As my bus sailed past Michigan Avenue on Wacker, I vigorously pulled the “Please, for the love of God stop!” cable and jumped off the bus with such vigor I actually elicited a gasp from the driver.

Nervously, I checked my phone. My heart sunk. 8:17. I have since Google Maps searched how far I travelled (.8 Miles) but I knew how far I had to travel. Refusing to let my own irresponsible behavior get in my way, I grit my teeth and began running as hard as I could in dress shoes carrying my new hire paperwork. I pushed through the revolving door, panting, mashed the up button on the elevator, wiped the sweat from my brow as I pressed 10 and waited. I dare not check the time until I step out of the elevator, and as I do I breathe a sigh of relief. 8:29. I had made it, and was even (technically) early. Regaining my composure, I smiled and walked behind two other employees to start my new journey. The lovely and friendly lady behind the front desk informed me that she was to take my picture and that she’d call whoever it was that would be training me.

As I sat on the couch in the reception area, smiling at the thought of starting my career, a thought occurred to me: I hadn’t eaten, and it wasn’t likely soon I’d get the chance. At that precise moment, the receptionist turned to me and informed me that it would be about 20 minutes before my colleague would be joining me. “Orientation starts at 9:00.” It was as though the clouds had opened and a heavenly chorus descended upon me. I breathed another sigh of relief, smiled and went downstairs to the conveniently located Corner Bakery to have a breakfast sandwich.

After an initially rocky start, the day did a complete 180 and was great throughout. For fear of violating any agreement I’ve signed, I’m keeping the details from my day minimal, but suffice it to say that I am incredibly enthused by the way this new chapter of my life is unfurling. I’ve been assigned to three incredible accounts and have been fortunate enough to come in right at the beginning of two social media campaigns, allowing me the opportunity to be instrumental in their creation and implementation.

As Pandora blesses me with Boston’s “More than a feeling” I can truly say at this moment, in the words of the king of the trailer park’s t-shirt, “I’m livin’ the dream.”

PRospective Employee No More

I can’t believe I’m writing this post on January 14, but this prospective employee is headed to the Windy City after this quarter of school to start a full-time, paid, post-grad internship with Weber Shandwick, the award winning agency that topped both PR Week’s and the Holmes Report’s list of global agencies.

Yes, this all started back with a simple Tweet five months ago:

DannyCox anyone in Chicago work for Weber-Shandwick? Would really like to meet a few when I’m in the windy city, need some guidance.

After getting some great responses from a few members of Weber’s team, I maintained contact over the ensuing months: took an informational visit, sent friendly questions as a reminder that I’m alive, came back for my interview in December, had a nice chat with Adam Keats (the SVP responsible for their digital team) via phone, and now this.

It had been a little more than a month since I my interview, and thanks to the holidays I was stuck in the anxious waiting game. I now know how those girls in movies who check their phones constantly to see if they had missed the call from that cute guy at the bar (ala, He’s Just Not That Into You), as since the New Year I had been checking my email roughly 12 times per minute when I was near my computer. This led to great productivity as you can imagine.

So yesterday, sitting in my Political Leadership class, I felt my phone vibrate. I look down to my excitement to see a 312 area code (Chicago, duh) and literally jumped out of my seat and ran out the door. This may have been a slight distraction to the discussion about Robert Macnamara and the decisions that led to the quagmire in Vietnam, but I had to take this call! Unfortunately, I didn’t answer in time and was forced to call immediately back. The butterflies were flapping in my stomach, and my heart nearly sank to my feet as Erin Trier, the wonderful hiring manager who has helped shepherd me through the interview process, said “I’m sorry that it took so long for us to get back to you, and thank you for being patient. I want you to know that we were truly impressed with you during your time here…” Oh no. Here it comes. The old, ‘it’s not you it’s me’ spiel. ‘You’re great, we just don’t think it would be a good fit,’ or ‘We unfortunately just don’t have any spots open right now.’ IT’S ALL BEEN FOR NOTHING!

Fortunately my brain snapped back into reality in time to hear the words “…we would love to offer you the position of intern to start April 5th.” Wait. What? WHAT?! At this point an uncontrollable smile spread over my face and I quite literally had a movie-style jump-in-the-air heel kick and a fist pump of joy.

The lesson to take away from this is as follows: social media is the great equalizer, and it’s full uses are yet to come.

I never dreamed that one little tweet would lead me to this. In what everyone keeps saying is a terrible job market, I didn’t send out a single application or unsolicited resume and was hired for the first position for which I interviewed. Now my path wouldn’t work in any field, but if you’re looking to go into Public Relations, you’re doing yourself a great disservice by not jumping both feet first into the digital space. You’re going to need it. Windy City, here I come.

What are some ways that you’ve used social media? How did you make the connections that helped lead to your first position out of college?