The Best for Last
As my blog posts begin to come to a close, I wanted to make my last post the best one yet. I’ve given lots of tips and advice in my posts throughout the semester, and I have focused a lot on how to make a bad experience better, but I have never truly divulged into one of my own personal internship experiences that was positive. With all the advice that has been given in the previous blog posts also comes the eventual acquisition of a position that you absolutely love. And for me, this began with Make-A-Wish.
For those who don’t already know, Make-A-Wish is an internationally known not-for-profit that serves children with critical illnesses, trying to provide them with a life-changing wish. I have always been the type of person who loves helping others and giving back to the community, and for me working at Make-A-Wish was the perfect way to incorporate my desire to be involved in the local community with all the skills I have learned over the course of the last two years. I have even contributed skills that I never thought I’d need to use in my life, such as the design skills I learned in my graphics class here at Newhouse.
The environment of an office is often times a huge deciding factor in whether or not you enjoy an internship or a company that you work for, and affects how well you can do in the position. It shapes the work ethic and attitude that employees have, and can allow either for an atmosphere of hostility and isolation or for an atmosphere of inclusiveness and comfort. However, the biggest impact that the atmosphere of an office has is on the productivity levels of the employees. It affects not only how productive they can be, but also the quality of the work that is being produced. You can have an intern who spits out five different press releases in an hour, but if they’re not strategically planned to reach the proper target audience or if enough time and thought hasn’t been put into them, they won’t be successful.
Another thing that has recently been found to greatly impact productivity and attitudes towards the work place is social media. Social media allows employees to connect with audiences on larger scales and get messages out in a more timely and efficient manner, allowing for more work to get done. According to Luttrell, “Once a user likes a company brand page, a company then has access to that fan on a consistent basis.” Building brand loyalty is arguably the most important aspect of creating social media pages. This not only ensures success for the company as they now have a solid client base, but it also saves time when trying to market products to individuals as you don’t need to constantly try and find new customers. This also leads to more productivity because once you have a feel for your target audience, it’s easier to create posts and promotions that will be successful.
One of the biggest takeaways that I have from working at Make-A-Wish is just to take advantage of every experience that you truly enjoy. I have had so many internships that I haven’t loved but have suffered through, however being at a place that I look forward to going to every day makes me appreciate all the work I’m able to do there.