Lessons for all of us...

I helped one of my students, JB, get an internship last summer. Being one of our brightest, he did very well despite the fact that his main passion is music. The firm continued his employment after the summer, and it looks likely that he might work there after graduation. He wrote a thoughtful, useful essay about his internship experience as part of his independent study. Parts of his paper are reproduced here.
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.....However, I do feel there are a few unique strengths to my perspective, some of which I have already stated—
• My internship has so far lasted almost eight months, which is a long time for an internship
• My internship is at a staggeringly large Fortune 500 corporation
• I did a variety of projects in multiple departments
• A great deal of my time was spent on a project in which I critically examined and reported on administrative habits and processes
• My managers consistently and purposefully provided me with “learning experiences”

I – “The Right Attitude”
My Observations
A large part of “the right attitude” is very straightforward and may nearly be summed up in one word: humility. No matter how qualified or intelligent you are, the given purpose of an internship is to learn. This assumes a certain ignorance on the part of the intern, and you must keep this fact squarely in mind—pride will yield nothing useful. The mistakes you will inevitably make on the job will only torment you more if your ego is involved. Additionally, if you come across to others as cocky, you will learn much less, annoy people much more, get little or no help when you need it, and potentially get yourself into something that is over your head.
For this reason, it is very important to clearly state when you are not capable of something—your supervisors must know what projects are appropriate for you. In my case, this often amounted to explaining that I was not capable at all, particularly since my major had nothing to do with logistics! When this happened, my supervisors were generally more than glad to either give me something else to do or help me learn the skills I needed.
But merely admitting that you can’t do something is insufficient. You must constantly ask questions—remember you are assumed to be ignorant! Your embarrassment will be short lived compared to the mess you may create if you labor under a wrong assumption or just decide to “wing it.” For example, I would often ask what exact format was desired for my reports, rather than devise what “made sense to me.” And then there was the vast sea of cryptic acronyms that I always had to have translated for me.
The second major part of “the right attitude” is eagerness. You must always seem glad to do your projects! Over my first month, I gained a reputation for always wanting projects, which was very instrumental in gaining a lengthy extension on my “summer’ internship. This includes going to all team outings or “offsite meetings.” Additionally, you must always seem glad to be a part of your team. In my case, such meetings were particularly important—the issue of my continued employment was first raised not at work, but sitting at a bar! In some ways, perceived eagerness is even more important than how effectively you do your job.

II – Technology
My Observations
This is perhaps the most absolute and objective topic I can cover. In short, you must have a working knowledge of Microsoft Office. There are other systems which are commonly used for certain things, but everyone is expected to be able to use all the programs of Office with reasonable comfort.
Upon starting my internship, I was capable in Word and could at least get through a basic PowerPoint presentation, but had never used Outlook or Access and had used Excel only once! Early on, there was one occasion where I tried to describe basic Excel formulas to someone in the finance department, using phrases like “you know, when you make it so the cells will do math and fill in a spreadsheet for you.” I genuinely viewed formulas as some high-level function of the program—so complete was my ignorance! Luckily, this particular individual was an Excel expert and offered to tutor me in the Excel skills I would need (this is another instance where humility was key). As I went on, other members of my extended team showed me how to use the other programs.
Since completing my various crash courses, I have used all of the Microsoft office programs almost on a daily basis. Excel has proven particularly useful—last summer, I would often do sets of calculations to assist the sourcing manager in pricing decisions. Other times, I would model various metrics, or make checklists when establishing company contacts. Outlook, of course, is used for all of my e-mails, as well as my appointments. And while Access is still a mystical beast in my mind, I know just enough to use several of the logistics databases.
In all, learning these programs is probably the most valuable of the “tangible” and résumé-worthy skills I have acquired during my internship.

III – Communication
My Observations
There are certain formalities to “professional” language that often intimidate students. In this area, I have one key observation—that these “formalities” serve to standardize and simplify communication, and it is in this manner that radically different people can exchange information effectively. Once this is realized, professional language ceases to be a code you must crack and instead becomes a convenience. The acid test is fairly simple—when you specifically state everything you mean to in a clear and polite way, your language is likely just fine. Language and phrases particular to the company are things you will pick up as you go along.
For me, the issue of clear communication most often came up in e-mails—there are few things more bothersome than a confusing writer. Unfortunately, they are plentiful and generally come in two unique flavors—those who write too much and those who write too little. Those who write too much often obscure the necessary information with useless garbage, and those who write too little often leave out necessary information altogether! The latter will often use Internet acronyms and abbreviations as well (IMHO, LOL!).
Avoid both these traps in your e-mails and cultivate a willingness to ask others for clarification. Better yet, be ready to talk through your questions on the phone. Some people just can’t write to save their lives.
It’s also worth noting one small but significant lesson I had to learn the hard way. When writing e-mails, always refer to someone you don’t know personally by their first name or their full name. Much to my embarrassment, I more than once I mistook the gender of a seemingly obvious name (like “Joe”) and referred to a woman as “Mr.”!

IV – Office Politics
My Observations
My observations and advice are best served by briefly relating another story and then analyzing it. Unfortunately, I will have to gloss over the details to the point of making it very uninteresting.
At one point, I had to calculate a large finance number for the logistics department that involved contributions from every subsection of the department. This demanded I approach the head of each subsection and then work with individual members of their team to arrive at their correct number. Most people were willing to help, but I ran up against one stubborn obstacle—a member of the international team and a member of the finance team seemed to harbor some slight dislike for each other, and each claimed that the calculation I needed done was the other’s responsibility. As a result, I was forced to go back and forth between the two for several days in an attempt to convince one or the other to investigate the information I needed. In approaching each, I was always sure to state that I was doing this because my superior—also their superior—wanted me to gather the information and that I was merely the messenger boy intern. I was also extremely polite and tried my very hardest to speak well of whoever I referred to (most of the time). Eventually, I approached my superior and told him of my problem, whereupon he had a meeting with both individuals and told them work on the information together.
There are three things to note here.

1) I was always very polite and tried to be nice about everyone
2) I quickly pulled out my “I’m just an intern” card
3) I deferred to my superior

If you do these three things, you should be able to avoid unpleasantness about as much as is possible. A large part of rule 1 ties back to communication—cultivating a vocabulary of neutral or politically correct terms and phrases (such as “I’m not comfortable with that”) should serve you well. If ever I violated one of these rules, I eventually regretted it.

V – Useful Administrative Habits
My Observations
This section is meant cover several useful habits I cultivated that would not readily fit under my other topics.
1) First, if you don’t already, you must find some method of organizing and keeping track of your projects. I personally used a spreadsheet (which is included in the back of this paper), but most anything that can function as a checklist will do. Liberally using the calendar function of Outlook will serve you well also—I found it most important in reminding me to keep track of my hours!
2) Concerning e-mails, I have two pieces of advice. First, never permanently delete any e-mails, unless they’re something completely useless like spam—instead, store them on a remote drive. Second, always put something relevant and descriptive in the subject line of your e-mails, in case you have to go back and do a search for them. I have been saved from trouble countless times by being able to reference my old e-mails—it is most particularly useful in proving to others that you did indeed send them the information that they claim you did not!
3) A small thing that many people seem to forget about is carrying paper and pen! When you’re going to ask someone questions, bring along either a legal pad or at least carry some post-it notes in your pocket. Relying on your memory alone will eventually betray you, and constantly re-asking questions you’ve forgotten the answers to tends to annoy everyone involved.
4) Most of all, always do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. I would sometimes stay after hours to finish projects by the deadlines I had quoted to others. This is a necessary habit in general, but is particularly so when you’re being judged as a potential employee. If you are perceived as reliable, a measure of success will always follow you.
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