I would suggest to always take initiative, be enthusiastic about any work they give you and proofread a printed copy of everything before turning it in to a supervisor.

If you don't know something, take time to learn it. I didn't know how to use InDesign, so I went to the library and got a book about the program.

The only thing that worries me is that I've never made coffee, since I don't drink it!

Good post. I hope your “coffee example” is a metaphor for other things, at least as it relates to us. If not…Maria needs a warm up…

Andrew

@Shannon – you’re absolutely right. Internships are different for everyone, so you just have to (tactfully) learn the rules before you break them.

@Brian – goals at an internship are key, but it’s just as important to make sure your supervisor knows about the goals, too. Good stuff.

In college I had an internship at a major record label doing PR. The label brought in guest speakers for us and it was a great intern program. A lot of it was doing “intern” work. I’ll never forget this one day, Beyonce’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schur came to talk to us and she told us we should never be getting coffee for people at work. It was wrong and not the reason we were there.

I listened to what she had to say and the next time a superior asked me to get coffee, I said no. I couldn’t believe it, but I was doing in the right thing (in my mind). Things were fine and the person just carried on.

To my knowledge, out of the 10 interns in our department that summer, I was the only one to receive an interview for a full-time position after I graduated. Why? Because even though I said no to getting coffee, I didn’t just sit around and surf the net all day. I was a go getter and helped other departments when I had downtime.

Internships are where I learned everything I know about PR and I vow to never make an intern get coffee or my dry cleaning or anything like that. So far I’ve been in the industry for 2 years, and have not had an intern.

Now making copies is a whole different story.

I’m not advising you to say no to coffee. I’m just letting you know that you should always have goals of what you want to get out of an internship. A lot of time interns forgot or don’t have goals and settle for mediocrity.

I would suggest to always take initiative, be enthusiastic about any work they give you and proofread a printed copy of everything before turning it in to a supervisor.

If you don’t know something, take time to learn it. I didn’t know how to use InDesign, so I went to the library and got a book about the program.

The only thing that worries me is that I’ve never made coffee, since I don’t drink it!

I think its one of those things you need to feel out as you go. I was always willing to take on big projects and go the extra mile, and in that way, I think I gained more respect in the office. I was looked at like more of an employee and less of an intern, which was great.

Lots of good points though. Especially the Facebook one. That is my biggest pet peeve at The State News!