Week 5 Blog Question
Now that
you’re 1/3rd of the way into your internship, how has the experience
evolved? What are your current struggles? Your recent successes? What skillsets are you mastering?
April 20: Interviewing, Part II-- PLEASE ANSWER AFTER MICHELLE'S MODULE
Now that we've discussed interviewing once, let's do it again WITH Michelle's take. Of Michelle's top 10 tips for successful interviews (available here ), which tips stuck out to you? I found myself resonating with #1. Being able to reflect on ourselves in addition to the organization helps us better recognize what we can offer to the organization. By taking a step back, I found myself better able to envision that future. Also, the STAR method (Tip #7) was pretty great, and it helped me conceptualize how to consider offering an answer with that method in mind. Next, give Big Interview a try (as noted on our assignment portal). You'll have to create an account, which took me all of 15 seconds. Once you're on, you'll note that there's a lot to explore there. I'd recommend at leave clicking on "Practice" and trying a few " General mock interview " questions. It's pretty cool because you have a human asking you the q...
So far, so good for me. I am really enjoying the internship. I feel like I am learning a lot about being a reporter; always on the go, good quick stories, exemplifying the most important facts. I know I have a ways to go yet before I become a great reporter, if that's what I decide is my final outcome, but I know it's not that long a ways off yet. I am getting much more comfortable in the newsroom, which was something I was worried about when I started here. There were so many expectations I had to live up to, but most of them were my own. Now, after settling in a bit more, I feel a bit better and I am eager to go out when they let me.
ReplyDeleteSome of the struggles though are out of my hands a bit. WEU 13 is a bit disorganized when it comes to what and how they want the interns to work. I myself am paired with a reporter, and I’ve gone out with several different ones on different stories, but I feel as though I could be doing more than what I am currently. Going back for a moment to the reporter I am paired with, she is also new. She was hired at the news station at the same time as I and the rest of the interns, and she was hired under the understanding that she would be helping with production, not news journalism. So going out with her is interesting, as both she and I think I am more trained in reporting. She is helpful with understanding ho wthe camera works, and shooting video, but when it comes to writing the VO/SOTs I usually do them on my own or go to another reporter who has experience at the station. I like that we are both problem solving, but I wish I would get more direction.
On the positive side my skills with video editing are getting much better! I already had some experience editing video, but I feel much more confident when I film and edit than I did starting out. It’s been amazing!
My internship is going alright. I have enjoyed learning how a news station works. Mostly everyone is super nice and willing to help! I have been able to do a number of things, including following around reporters, interviewing people, writing articles, posting to the web, creating VSOTS, editing footage, taking footage, communicating with several employees, and publishing news stories under my name! Next week, I am going out with one of the marketing consultants. There is a lot to learn. Sometimes, it seems overwhelming, but I know I just have to be patient. Everyone here has had much more training and experience than myself, so I can't expect to get the hang of things right away. I enjoy posting to the web. I also enjoy when I am given my own projects, because that means I get to write the article myself and get my name out in the world! My main concern/struggle is that WEAU-13 is extremely disorganized. I feel our supervisor took on too many interns. On the weekend, I primarily post to the web and social media. Although the weekend is more structured than the weekday, it is extremely slow. The reporters I work with on the weekend are super helpful, and always ask if I need to be kept busy (I always answer yes!). On the weekday, there is MUCH more excitement. Unfortunately, whenever I come in, my supervisor doesn't really have anything for me to do. She suggested bringing homework to keep me busy. I feel like I have to go out of my way to keep myself busy with news-related work. If I am being honest, I wish there was more for me to do and I wish she knew what she was doing. One of my strengths is "achiever" so naturally I want to be productive! Although I have communicated with her, I still feel like I am not doing much. Even some of the reporters have noticed the interns seem to be bored. I am definitely mastering adaptability, patience, and communication. I am still glad to be working here because I have gotten to publish a few news stories under my name! That's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteSo far, my internship with JONAH is going really well. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I started because I was a little unclear on what kinds of work I would be doing. But now that I am 1/3 of the way through, I feel a lot better about all of it.
ReplyDeleteMost of my time is spent meeting with the JONAH organizer Lynn and helping her catch up on the things she is behind on. She does a really good job of giving me specific things to do which is super helpful for me because I like to make lists of what needs to get done.
Right now I’ve been doing a lot of work with putting together the articles for JONAH’s newsletter. This is giving me a lot of experience with editing and putting together information so that it flows and makes sense. I’ve also been helping update the JONAH website and working with a software which I was previously unfamiliar with. I have also been designing quite a few posters advertising upcoming JONAH events which has allowed me to work on my design and creativity skills.
I feel like I have had success so far in helping Lynn catch up on a lot of the things she is behind on. She tells me often how thankful she is that I am helping her out because she only has so much time in the day to get things done and she is a very busy person.
The only thing I struggle with sometimes is making sure I am doing exactly what Lynn wants because I know she is very organized and likes things done a certain way. So sometimes I have difficulty knowing exactly how to format things to fit what she wants. But I usually asks lots of questions and she is more than willing to clarify things that I am unclear about.
I felt like this week especially, I’ve found my footing in my internship. I’m getting to know my site coordinator and the other interns, and I’ve also developed a pretty clear outline for the main project I’m working on. I’d say the only issue I’ve run into is having enough time for everything and I’ve been doing what I can at home, but there are portions of it that I have to do on a university computer. Now that I have the plan, I really want to just work on my projects until they’re finished. I realize not everything can be done at once and incorporating a timeline into my project outline has really helped me pace myself so I can balance this with school and my other jobs.
ReplyDeleteWith this internship, I’ve been able to work more in depth with programs that I’ve used here and there for my classes. I hope that by the end of this internship I’ll be well versed enough in these programs to put them on my resume and feel confident working with them in the future. Based on the progress I’ve had and what the rest of my outline will entail, I think this is an achievable goal.
I think my internship is going well. I have yet to really get to know many of the employees at Volume One, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that the desk where I sit faces in the opposite direction of everyone else, so it's hard to strike up a candid conversation. This past week was a production week, which means gathering information for articles and writing up drafts, and I feel successful in that I was able to create all three articles I was assigned on Wednesday. I was in charge of contacting the people in question as well, and I feel good in that they all responded to me and seemed very enthusiastic about being asked for a comment.
ReplyDeleteI think I've really got the format and style of Volume One down, expect for a few minor things that are V1-specific, which is nice. It makes cranking out three articles in one sit-down session much easier. One of my site supervisors also had me do an editing assignment the other day, and had me compare my notes to the ones she made, so that was fun since editing is a skill I want to be able to use at the forefront of my future career.
Looking ahead, I was told that I'll get the opportunity to go on an on-site interview with one of the editors, which is special because most interviews are conducted over the phone or email. I think that will be a really cool experience, and help me get to know a little bit more about this community.
My internship with the McNair Program won’t truly get busy for me until later in the semester once students are writing their research papers, but in the meantime I’m completing some other projects my boss discussed with me when I started. I learned the program that will allow me to write content for the university website, and have been looking through the McNair pages for spots to update and improve to make the information more accessible and make the site look more tech savvy. The website bit was initially a struggle for me because it was not something I worked on when I worked for the program last spring, but my boss is a huge help in giving me direction and ideas for how to start. She checked in with my progress this week, and together we brainstormed ideas for the areas I should tackle first. This week and next week, I will be meeting with the McNair scholars to help them outline/draft their research articles, and I suspect that will take up most of my time next week. I already know all the scholars because I worked with them all last year, which I think is beneficial because they also already know who I am and trust me. I also like getting to work with them all again because now I can apply the new skills I learned last semester to help them improve their work, like my advancing editing skills and communication skills.
ReplyDeleteIn the past week, I’ve felt a lot more like I’m in the swing of my internship. At first, I struggled a bit to feel grounded because we discussed a lot of exciting upcoming things, but it took awhile for me to really make them happen. This past week, however, I finally sent off my final interview questions for authors and had my first article posted. Getting some of those things moved from the ‘to-be-done’ pile to the ‘done’ pile helped me feel a bit more at ease. Now it feels like I'm getting into a rhythm!
ReplyDeleteCurrently, I’m struggling a bit because I’m in a period of waiting for the next batch of responses to come in so I can write up the next articles. I think I’m still getting the hang of how best to distribute the work so it ebbs and flows more smoothly and is a bit less all-at-once then with a long pause. That being said, having my first article published felt like a success! It was also nice to finally get all my questions sent off and now to get to prepare for their responses, the next batch of interviews, and how I can best help prep for upcoming CVWG events.
I think this internship has really allowed me to work on my adaptability, as there’s not necessarily a set in stone set of tasks to be done each week. This has been both exciting and a bit of a challenge, but it’s getting easier with each passing week! I also think this internship has helped me expand my strength of input, because each interview I’ve done has required me to research the person, their work, and then tie in those connections to craft meaningful questions. I've been able to practice writing and formatting articles to be published online, though I still have a lot to learn in that realm. I’ve also been able to capitalize on my people skills to connect with the different authors I’ve interviewed. All in all, I’ve really been enjoying the internship and I’m excited for what’s to come!
At this point in my internship, I feel like I’ve gotten more of a feel for the time-management aspect of assigned tasks and I feel more comfortable in my role. My biggest struggle was working my internship into my schedule due to the fact that it’s almost completely on my own time, but I’ve dedicated certain times to working on my internship tasks. I’ve also gotten used to communicating regularly with my site supervisor and our other English Department intern.
ReplyDeleteMy current struggles have been with deadlines, mostly due to the fact that the largest portion of my work is interview based and it’s been geared towards working around the schedules of other students before we could begin to work on the writing portion. This struggle was difficult to correct, but I think it’s something to expect in the future and to have a plan to work around.
I feel like my recent successes mostly revolve around cooperative teamwork and communication to finish a project we’ve been working on. Once we sat down to work on it, the project itself wasn’t as difficult to make progress on as I thought it was going to be.
I talked a bit about this previously, but I think my time-management skills are a skillset that I’ve gotten better at but could still use some work, which is why I want to focus on mastering this aspect of the internship. On the other hand, I think communicating professionally is something I’ve been able to do well.
I definitely feel a lot more like I know what I'm doing, compared to the beginning of the internship. At the beginning of the semester I wasn't really sure what to expect, but now that I've been in the thick of it for a few weeks I finally feel like my role as an intern has clicked with me. I feel like I understand my duties more clearly, and I feel a lot more comfortable asking questions about the things I don't know.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I continue to struggle with completing tasks on time; this isn't something that's limited to the internship, and across the board this semester I've had some trouble meeting deadlines due to the number of things on my plate. It feels like even if I spend all day getting things done, there's still always something else that I don't have time to do before it needs to be turned in.
At the same time, though, I am learning a lot about the writing world, and I feel like I've grown as a team member as well. I feel a lot more confident and comfortable with asking interview questions, now that such an experience is under my belt. I also am learning how to work even more efficiently, and while I'm still rushing through the semester trying to complete everything on time, day by day I'm able to fit in just a little more work than the last.
As I have made my way into my first internship, I have found that while I enjoy the flexibility, I miss a structured environment. However, I feel that I have made some great evolving moments. I feel that I am keeping up with the pace of the internship. Other than feeling a little intimidated by the lack of structure, I have found that my biggest current success is the presentation that I have been working on. I have completed the base presentation and now all I need are the numerical values and input so that I implement them. I feel that as each week goes by I am mastering my discipline strength more and more as I have to make sure I discipline myself to get work done and ready to go for my sight director. Consistency is also being mastered here as well, I always dedicate a solid day of work to my internship studies.
ReplyDeleteI read that we were 1/3 of the way through the internships and did a double take. I have really enjoyed my experience with the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra so far. Anna has been a wonderful boss with an ability to be flexible and allow me to work on whatever task she needs assistance with. In the beginning I was concerned as to what I would be doing, because it was very unclear. I have since learned that this internship requires an ability to go into work without knowing exactly what you will be working on. This is fairly doable for me considering my strengths are ideation, learning, etc. I tend to love doing lots of random things. I am currently working on assisting on writing a grant while also attempting to compile a history of the Orchestra. This variety of tasks has been fun, but at times I do miss structure. So far I think my biggest struggle is knowing what is needed out of my writing. Being a creative writing major it is interesting to send Anna some work and have her feedback consist of something along the lines of "too flowery." It is helping me focus in on a more professional and too the point writing which is not in my wheel house but very fun to improve upon.
ReplyDeleteWe are already 1/3rd through?! I think the internship is going well so far. We are wrapping up our article, which I am very excited about. It’s not a format I’m super familiar with so it’s been a great learning experience.
ReplyDeleteI came into the semester expecting to more free time than I actually do. So, one of my biggest struggles has been trying to find balance between my internship and the other happenings in my life. I do feel that having an intern partner it has required me to a bit more on top of things.
Something I was really proud of was giving the interviews. I’ve had some experience in the past, but it’s always nerve wracking to interview a person. I often caught myself thinking Is this a good question? Am I getting all the right questions? There is also a bit of improv in live interviews, it’s important to keep a conversation organic which requires some research on the topic. I felt that I had some good conversations and got some really great information out of my interviews and by composing the article I’ve learned how to do better in future interviews.
I was fortunate enough to start in the first week of January as a full-time employee. I'm really loving it! The hardest part was mastering the terminology. In an R&D environment there are a LOT of acronyms. For example, RFQ= Request for Quote; PRD= Product Requirement Document; RFC= Request for Change; PCD= Product Control Document (this is mostly what I have been dealing with; basically what the product should look like when it hits the shipping container in China)...
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing is I am already fairly confident in my writing style as I air on the side of exactness and precision in few words.
One of my struggles is focusing on one thing at a time. I'm not a big picture guy and the flow of the company is very reliant on what our overseas partners are up to (coronavirus has slowed things down a little bit but not too terribly). That said, I'm already juggling a lot and fortunately I think my supervisors get that.
I'm learning so so much. Many of the simulators Realityworks are used in a nursing/EMT school setting, so I'm actually learning a lot about medical procedures! My girlfriend is Pre-Med so it has opened up a whole new door in conversations we have.
I work about 20 hours a week. My supervisor always asks if I'm comfortable with a project before it gets thrown at me- my approach is, take it and ask questions later. I get to write a manual soon!! It's weird that I'm excited about it, but the fact that I'm excited to do it reinforces my desire to perhaps pursue a career in technical writing.