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| Source: The University of Sydney (http://sydney.edu.au/) |
Journal Entry 8/26
Becoming a Better Me: The Internship
Experience
My journey began at the
University of Sydney Business School on August 6th 2014. I was
interviewed for the position of marketing and communications intern by my two
supervisors and was hired later on that day.
At first, I was quite
skeptical about the internship since I had previously worked at the UCLA
Anderson School of Management Executive MBA Program (Global Access Program) as
a student assistant, and wanted to expand my scope and work in a different
field. As long as I can remember, I have always been passionate about writing
and journalism. Back home, I write for my newspaper every week and have been
itching to interview and report ever since I arrived in Sydney, Australia. I
wanted to intern at a company that pushed me to become a better writer and
journalist. Little did I know, this internship would do just that.
I was surprised to
learn what all this internship entailed. So far, I have been working on
composing social media posts for articles and events (LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook), posting and editing blogs for our Marketing Matters and Opportunity
Blog, analyzing and tracking our social media likes, shares, followers and
comparing them to other business schools and utilizing excel and PowerPoint for
additional projects. Although I had used excel in my previous job, I had never
explored its fancy features and format details.
So far, I have found
editing to be my most challenging task. At UCLA, I worked as the Community
Editor at the Daily Bruin for a couple months. After being an editor and
adapting to a specific journalistic style of writing, I thought I knew
everything to look out for. Editing the blogs has shown me how much I have to
learn not only about editing but about my own writing and grammar. I find
myself constantly googling words for possible spelling errors (ex. Australians
spell some words with an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’ (realise)) and grammar mistakes
such as semicolons and apostrophes. After reflecting on my internship and my
own writing, I feel as if this is my weakness, something I will have to
constantly strive to better myself at. With hard work, a little research each
day and a positive attitude, I believe I will be able to improve my editing
skills for my internship, future employers and the journalism world.
Journal
Entry 9/9
A Holistic Approach to Education and Self
These last couple weeks
I have worked on the goal I had set for myself in my previous journal, which
is, researching universal grammar rules and rules only specific to Australia
writing. Although it has not been the most exciting task, I have found that
researching one rule (ex. use of commas) each day before work has immensely
helped me with editing blogs throughout the day. Although I do not have the
best memory and revert to “googling” words and sentences to double check my
judgment, I feel as if I am more confident in editing and presenting my
findings to my supervisor.
Lately, I have been
doing more than editing and posting the MBA, Opportunity and Marketing blogs.
My supervisor has extended my editing sphere to include proof reading our
business school’s e-newsletter, a monthly letter with various articles
featuring clubs/societies, professors, financial donors, etc. In addition to
editing the letter, I look over the design of the page and check all of the links
online to ensure everything looks professional and runs smoothly. I have caught
a few errors and have presented them to my supervisor (something I feel
extremely proud about).
Besides editing, I have
been learning an immense amount of knowledge in the area of marketing. For our
monthly e-newsletter, we use the online platform “campaign monitor.” This site
traces our online distribution, audience, subscribed, unsubscribed, soft bounce
and hard bounce emails. At first I was quite scared to tackle on this project
of tracking down and recording these figures since numbers and math is not my
strong suit. After a short information session with my supervisor, I no longer
felt scared to try, rather, I felt excited to undertake such an interesting
assignment that lies far beyond my realm of expertise.
Although I wouldn’t
choose marketing as a career, I found the exercise in using a tool that
marketers use to be very exciting and eye opening. I had never realized how
much companies really do take note of our every move online and how this
information can assist in catering to customers and employers.
Ultimately, my
reflection from these last couple weeks can be defined as “you learn something
new every day.” May it be researching, learning new editing skills, or testing
the waters of a different career, every experience I have encountered so far
has contributed to not only a holistic approach to my education, but also, of
myself and what I can achieve.
Journal
Entry 9/23
Career: A Way of Life
My normal tasks I
complete during my day to day shift have gone smoother and faster than they
have ever been. Lately, I have been working on our September social media power
point report in addition to my other responsibilities. I have found myself
sifting through the statistics with ease and confidence as I prepare the
report. I have learned that with time comes confidence and experience in the
workplace.
Because of my
familiarity with my tasks and the increased speed in which I have accomplished
them, my supervisor asked me if I would be interested in writing a blog for the
Big Opportunity page after editing and posting the MBA students contributions
like I normally do. I more than jumped at the opportunity and felt privileged
to be able to complete such a task that I felt was extremely valuable in
helping me grow as a writer. After I wrote my blog for the business school, I
reflected on what had gotten me to this very point. As a marketing and
communications intern, personal blogging is not usually tied with the job. I
realized that because of my hard work in the office, my supervisor probably
wanted to provide a creative outlet for me as a thank you for my efforts. With
hard work comes a reward so bright and wonderful which makes the work not seem
like work at all, rather, a learning process to the ultimate prize of
self-growth.
This week I celebrated
my 21st birthday, which did not go unnoticed by my coworkers. I was
pleasantly surprised with a pre-birthday morning tea since my birthday was the
following day. I was absolutely blown away by their kindness and good
vibrations for me. They showed me how much they cared by taking the time from
their own busy schedule just to wish me a happy birthday and ask me about my plans.
In that moment, I understood why the business school functioned so well.
Because of my co-workers’ natural concern for people and their caring demeanor,
their professions were more than just a place of work to them but a way of
life.
From this simple but
impactful experience, I learned that no matter what profession you go into, you
must believe in what you do and give your best in everything. Success can be
equated with having a positive attitude and genuine care. May it be a birthday
or an assignment, a person’s true character will always shine through and will
not go unnoticed by a supervisor or by a thankful intern.
Journal
Entry 10/15
It’s a Wrap
As of October 20th
2014 I will have officially completed my 120 hours working at the University of
Sydney Business School as a Marketing and Communications intern. These last few
weeks have seemed to fly by as my supervisor has kept me busy with my normal
projects with an added bonus of assisting with photography shoots of the
Business School faculty. I have learned the importance of lightening,
background, and people in taking photographs. While analyzing the photographer,
I focus on the way in which he creates a “safe” environment of positivity and
humor. Although some of the faculty members came in nervous and pessimistic in
being the subject of the photograph, the photographer and myself joked around
and made the experience fun and enjoyable. In effect, the faculty members left
with smiles not only for the camera, but also for themselves.
From this seemingly
insignificant experience, I learned more about the business industry than I
ever thought I could. In any career we choose, we must learn how to connect
with our co-workers in order to sustain a comfortable environment of mutual
trust (ex. the faculty members trust that the photographer will take a
flattering photo of them). While an exchange or a business deal can be just
that, we must go the extra mile to encourage and motivate others to aspire to
their full potential (ex. the photographer encourages the one being
photographed to smile so as to capture the most beautiful and authentic picture
of happiness). If so, the other person we do business with will remember us as a
hardworking and driven individual and will network with us in the future. In
other words, you reap the benefits of your work in full and only get out as
much work as you decide to put in. So why not dive in feet first, splashing in
a couple mistakes along the way and learning from them, until completely
submerged within the best reality we could have never dreamed of. Living
passion.
My time here was short,
but the benefits I have received are everlasting. I came into this program with
a skeptical view of how much I could really learn from a seemingly familiar job
I had worked at before. My initial perspective couldn’t have been more
incorrect. What I have gained is more than I could ever write on a resume.
Through sociological lenses, it is the way in which we communicate. It is
diligently working, genuinely caring about your cause, and always trying to
better yourself. While my internship may be over, the path to my own definition
of success has just begun.
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