When you tell your friends and family that you have an internship, there is a good chance you will get at least one of these responses. They might say “Wow, that is great!” or “How many cups of coffee have you picked up today?” Many thoughts ran through my head before my first day interning at Today’s Business. “Will this be worth it?” “What exactly will I be doing?” When an intern comes to Today’s Business, or any new company for the first day, all of those thoughts are bound to run through their mind. However, when you meet the #TBTeam those nervous thoughts go away and they are replaced with excitement. From here, you begin to build your professional career.
No one ever knows what to expect when entering a new situation, and despite having this little cheat sheet, there is no doubt you will have a different experience than all of the fall interns did at Today’s Business. However, here are a few things that every intern should expect during their time at TB.
You are going to work.
That’s right, real work! No getting coffee, printing out pointless forms or picking up dry cleaning. You are going to do hands-on, professional work. Whether you are a social media intern, work in digital development, or are a Digital Public Relations intern like myself, all of your time is dedicated to work that has been assigned to you by your supervisor.
In social media, you are constructing posts for the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. With digital, you focus on coding and building client websites. If you are in public relations, you will be writing plenty of content (like this one). Yes, what you are reading right now is an example of work completed during a typical day at TB! The crew will always give you something interesting to do. If you are looking to sit back and relax, this internship is not for you!
You are going to network.
Get ready to meet just about everyone in the office, from your fellow interns, to CEO Tom Ottaiano, and everyone in between. The TB team wants to know about you. Your education, interests and what you are looking to get out of the internship. They will make sure that you are able to do as much as you possibly can during your time here. If you want to do some work with another department at some point, they will make it happen. Have an idea to make the company better? The team will listen and encourage you to move forward with it.
The people that you will meet are helpful and want you to succeed, so if you have a question about digital advertising, college or anything else, multiple people are willing to answer it. TB is here to help as you grow and build your career path.
You are going to learn.
The hands-on work that TB provides interns allows you to improve your skills constantly and experience new things. Whether it is researching clients and topics you are not familiar with, creating a great tease for Twitter, or interviewing people for press releases. You will learn new skills and bolster the ones that you have already.
The interaction you will have with actual clients in meetings, over the phone or otherwise is something that most interns at other companies do not get to experience. It is a great way to get your foot in the door and learn how to interact with others in the field. The goal is to impress clients and as an intern you get the opportunity to post, write and create for them. You can get your professional work out there right away.
You will feel like part of a team.
Once you start working, you forget that you are an intern. You feel as if you are part of the team and work with everyone almost every day. Inclusion is very important and when an event is happening or coming up everyone, including the interns, is notified. For example, we had a “penny war” to raise money for charity and the office was divided into five teams. I was the only guy on a team called “The Girls Room” and they let me write my name on the jar. The team name changed to “The Girls Room + Sean.” It was a small thing that made me feel like I belonged on the team in more ways than one.
You are going to dress up.
A perfect example of the team atmosphere and being included are the Today’s Business group photos. If you are following Today’s Business on Instagram, then you know what I am talking about here. For any holiday, awareness month or otherwise, the entire office will dress up for it.
On Halloween we wore costumes, and for Breast Cancer Awareness Month we all wore pink. We then gathered and took a photo to post on the major social media platforms. It was a great chance to interact with everyone in the office. The whole team gathers and it is always a fun time. My advice is to dress for as many of these as possible because it is a great chance to meet and network with the rest of the team.
You are going to enjoy it.
Interning at Today’s Business is an enjoyable experience and is sure to exceed your expectations. You might be looking for an internship where you learn. Here, you will and then some. You might be looking for connections in the field of public relations and digital advertising. TB has that too. What about improving your writing and editing skills? You will have opportunities to do that as well. While you complete your tasks, you will meet great people in a fun and comfortable environment that welcomes everyone. So with that, welcome to Today’s Business and take advantage of this opportunity that you have been given!