One of the biggest pressures I have faced in college has been the constant reminder of how vital it is to have not one, but multiple internships before graduating. However, I have been lucky enough to take part in a few networking events where I had the opportunity to talk to real life professionals about how they got to where they are now.
A common answer I heard? Internships. Last spring, I visited Spoon and talked to AK, a Spoon Alum, and she shared that she had multiple internships in college.
In the back of my head I was thinking: Great, I am almost halfway done with college and I have had none. Zilch.
Summer seems to be the most popular time to land an internship. You don’t necessarily have to stay on campus, everyone assumes you have all this extra free time (unless you’re me and decide to take nine semester hours—not a smart choice), and it’s the perfect time to get that hands-on experience.
I’m not going to lie, I originally wasn’t planning on interning this past summer but I am so happy I decided to fill out that application. Once it was turned in, an overwhelming feeling rushed over me. I wanted it so bad. When that congratulations email hit my inbox, I knew spending my Friday night buzzed off coffee making sure my application was kickass was worth it.
So, here are some of the things I learned this summer as a remote editor for Spoon University.
It’s okay to change interests within your leadership roles on campus.
Last year I was the Marketing Director for my campus chapter, Spoon Iowa. My job was basically posting on our social media accounts and planning events for our chapter. But, because of my experience doing editorial work this summer, I was slowly starting to realize that my true passion was editorial.
I was lucky that my chapter’s ED felt the same way and that she was more of a social media guru because of her own experience. After some HQ communicating and Secret Sauce training, we had switched positions into something we both thought would benefit our team.
Ever since we switched, we have been publishing more articles, our social media page activity has increased, and I think communication has overall been better among our team.
Not only that, but I myself have had the chance to write more SEO-driven articles which has proven to pay off by my pageview stats (because, let’s face it, it sure does feel damn good to see 12,296 people read YOUR article).
Slack is the shiz.
Why email someone when you can slack them? I was not pro-Slack when I found out it was going to be our main way of communicating for the internship. But, let me tell you, I freakin’ love Slack.
Not only can you directly message HQ for advice and tips, but you can also talk to every Spoon member from campuses around the world. This turned out to be extremely helpful during the editing process. Instead of emailing and hoping for a response in a few days, with the app, a notification immediately pops up on your desktop or cell phone.
When I say immediate, I ain’t joking. I could always count on someone from HQ responding back to me within the day. I’m sure Sam Dilling could attest to this as I probably slid into her DM’s at least three times a week (and I still do).
But, #noregrets amiright? Because HQ was so reachable and made it known that they were here to help us, I felt comfortable slacking them with any and all questions.
Plus, I think this helped strengthen my relationships with those talented professionals all the way out in NYC. Although they were hundreds of miles away, I felt like accessibility was never an issue. I’m confident that there are a handful of HQ’ers that will have my back and are willing to help me outside of the Spoonsphere because of that relationship I have worked so hard to maintain.
My uncle, a head photographer for a newspaper out in Florida, has just started using Slack in their office. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to learn the in’s and out’s this summer and get a jump start on a communication tool that might benefit me in the future.
Spoon offers so many leadership opportunities for you to excel.
As the summer was wrapping up, it was dawning on me that I wouldn’t have as many responsibilities going into the semester. But as the saying goes, when one door closes another one opens. About a month or two after the remote editing program ended, we received an email from Spoon that they were looking to build a SNAC (Spoon National Advisory Committee) team.
With a little luck and a recommendation letter, I received an email from Jocelyn Hsu offering me a position and the opportunity to continue working closely with HQ and an elite group of rockstar Spoon members from other chapters.
Spoon University has taught me how to push myself and follow my strengths. The opportunities I have had only within my first year of being part of the community have been amazing and I can’t wait to see how much more I can accomplish.