Today was a big day. I silenced that little intern voice in my head.
It’s so easy to get lost in all of that, “but am I good
enough?”, “but do I ACTUALLY have something valuable to say”, chatter that runs
rampant. I was watching a video the other day about the value or (lack thereof)
of unpaid internships. As someone who has had both paid and unpaid positions, I
could jump into that argument at length, but I’ll leave that for another day.
The video was supposed to be comedic to prove a point about valuing the work of
interns, but I saw a stereotype of the (mostly mythical) interns who only exist
to get coffee. As for that argument – I’ll say only this for now, there is a
reason that Northeastern requires co-op employers to pay their co-ops (with a
few exceptions), but I have gotten great experiences out of unpaid internships
as well – it’s completely situational.
Ok, so let’s move on – TODAY WAS A BIG DAY.
I’ve been loving my internship. In a little over a month, I
have learned an immense amount and started developing some great relationships,
but I hadn’t yet asked for anything. If you’re like me, this is where you
cringe and go…”oh dear, where is she going with this?”. It’s ok, stay with me.
Today, I asked to learn. Knowing that a particular member of the team focuses
on an area that I am very interested in, I approached her and asked to help.
This is an area that co-ops aren’t typically involved in, but everyone at the
company has constantly reminded both me and the other co-ops to just speak up
when we’re interested in something. Even still, I was admittedly nervous. There
was that little part of my brain that sighed a breath of relief when she was
out of her office and I delayed a day in asking, but bigger than that there was
a disappointment in the delayed excitement. Today, I did it. Maybe you’re
reading this now and laughing about how silly I was being or maybe you’ve felt
this and tomorrow you’ll ask your manager to learn something new. Either way,
congratulations, you’ve got this.
So let me leave you with this – the worst thing people can
do is say no. I know everyone has told you that a billion times, but it’s so
true. Even if a manager can’t use your help, they will remember that you put
yourself out there. They will remember your curiosity, excitement, and
ambition. For me, it turned out spectacularly and I can’t wait to start
learning. It’s the little things. Today, I feel accomplished and let me tell
you, it feels great.
The New Me:
P.S. I think we should make a song about this ft. rap god "co-op successes". It's what all the cool kids are doing.
P.S.S. On second thought, it should really just be a whole album. Next single out: "eating spaghetti in the workplace without looking like a college kid who can't cook/messy five year old/failure at life". Still working on the song title. Open to suggestions.
-xoxo-
Kate
