{"id":4966,"date":"2014-03-18T12:04:55","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T16:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/?p=4966"},"modified":"2018-08-09T16:38:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T20:38:34","slug":"five-lessons-ive-learned-at-my-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/2014\/03\/18\/five-lessons-ive-learned-at-my-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Lessons I Learned at My Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Graphic<\/a>
Graphic by Hannah Giles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You don<\/b>\u2019t have to have all the answers, but you need to know how to find them.
\n<\/b>Also known as being resourceful, knowing how to find answers and solutions has become one of my top skills since becoming an intern. The Internet is surprisingly unhelpful in some situations, so don\u2019t use it as a crutch. Sometimes the person with the answers you need is sitting right there in the office, or may be just a phone call away. I scour news archives, do best practice research and never constrain myself to Google.<\/p>\n

Don<\/b>\u2019t box yourself in.
\n<\/b>If you think something is a good idea, pitch it! Don\u2019t sit quietly if you believe it\u2019s a bad idea or out of place for you to make a suggestion. They may tell you it isn\u2019t a good idea, and hopefully why it\u2019s not a good idea, but bringing fresh ideas to the table brings value to your team and shows initiative.<\/p>\n

Know your limits.
\n<\/b>Sometimes you have to reach your limit to know exactly what it is. Don\u2019t expect balancing an internship, academia and daily life to be easy, but when you reach your threshold, face it and fix it. That might mean setting aside time to review your daily schedule and adjust accordingly, taking a day off to catch up on schoolwork or spending the weekend catching up. You\u2019ll perform better at your internship and school when you alleviate the stress when it starts rather than trying to endure it.<\/p>\n

Being early is on time.
\n<\/b>There\u2019s an adage that says, \u201cIf you\u2019re early you\u2019re on time; if you\u2019re on time you\u2019re late.\u201d For interns, this is especially true. This is a learning process, and when we\u2019re learning we tend to be a little slower. Coming in at least 15 minutes early gives you enough time to jumpstart your day, but I\u2019m usually at my desk 30 minutes before the workday begins. I use that time to check emails, grab some coffee and review my goals for the day. When the clock strikes nine, I\u2019m ready to roll.<\/p>\n

Be awesome.
\n<\/b>This is mission critical at my internship. The project I\u2019m working on is nicknamed \u201cTeam Awesome.\u201d Even if yours isn\u2019t, make it so and call it that.<\/p>\n

What lessons have you learned at your internship?<\/b><\/p>\n

Hannah Giles is a sophomore at the University of Memphis earning her degree in journalism with a concentration in public relations. She is president of her PRSSA Chapter and the Public Relations and Technology Associate at Caissa Public Strategy.<\/a> You can find her tweeting @hannahrgiles<\/a> and connect with her on LinkedIn.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to have all the answers, but you need to know how to find them. Also known as being resourceful, knowing how to find answers and solutions has become one of my top skills since becoming an intern. The Internet is surprisingly unhelpful in some situations, so don\u2019t use it as a crutch. Sometimes the person with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2894],"tags":[28,849,45,2217,15,40,762,422],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4966"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4970,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions\/4970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/progressions.prsa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}