Back Again!

Hello!

See? I told you you'd be hearing from me a lot more often. I'm back to talk even more about how much I love my internship!

I know what you're probably thinking. "Ok, so they certainly make it seem like you're important. And you're doing things that matter. But anyone could tweet or post blogs, so it's really just your time they value and not you specifically, right?" Wrong!  Today I'm going to tell you a story that proves otherwise.

It was a Monday, about halfway through the semester, and I'd officially been an intern for about four months (since November). It happened to be a day where not a whole lot of people were in the office, and my boss was in a lunch meeting. So another person who works for the company, specifically the CSO (the S is for strategy), asked me to join him and another employee for lunch. I was surprised because I didn't think the CSO liked me very much, but didn't want to pass up because I knew it'd be a great networking opportunity (and everyone at GW has an undeclared minor in networking).

So we walked to Potbelly together and met with another employee, in charge of customer relations, who'd only been working with the company for about a week. She spent a lot of the time we were eating asking questions about the company and our product in an attempt to better understand it. Then she said that she was working on a project for my boss but needed some help with it, and asked a question about how exactly our product works and how we can sell it. The CSO, who gives sales pitches once or twice a week, gave her a thorough answer. And then they both turned to me.

To put it lightly, I was shocked. "I'm just an intern," I thought. "Why do they care what I think?" But it turns out they did. Not only did she listen to my suggestions, but she even wrote them down. And agreed that some of them were really good! Although, admittedly, I didn't have a whole lot left to say after the CSO had given all of his suggestions.

And this wasn't a one-time fluke due to inexperience. Since then I've been asked a lot of questions about important things, by multiple people in the company. Just yesterday morning I spent about an hour discussing the future of our product and how I thought it could be improved.

The point is, just because you're an intern doesn't mean you don't matter. And even bigger, when you get an internship in DC, you're not just getting a volunteer coffee-getting position. You're going to be actively involved in the place you're interning for, learning and growing, and if you're lucky helping your company/organization do the same!

And hey. Sometimes my boss even offers to get me coffee. :-)

Until next time!
Jennifer