LIM College

by Christina Silva

Everyone gets butterflies right before they start something new. Your nerves are at an all-time high and you’re trying your hardest to exude confidence but know you are miserably failing at it. Yep, I know that feeling! It’s a normal reaction to starting your very first day at a new internship.

This was definitely how I felt when I started working as a Digital Intern at Evins Communication in their Digital Division. My position was to assist the Director of Digital and Integration as well as the Senior Account Executive with creating content for the company’s clients’ social media pages.

Sounds intimidating, right? I have to say it was a daunting task and while I was sitting at my desk getting acquainted with my surroundings, I suddenly realized that I would have a hand in an existing company’s social media posts.

The day I started my internship began with familiarizing myself with basic company information, in addition to an extensive review of all the clients that my division specifically worked with. They handle, on any given day, around six clients that they monitor on social media and post content for on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

I was also given the task of creating tweets to use to post on their clients' Twitter pages. Sounds like a simple task right? Wrong. It took me almost the rest of the workday (12:00 pm-6:00 pm) to come up with 12 tweets for them to use. I had to study the tweets they had already been posting and develop ones that emulated what had been said so as to keep the message consistent.

While, I was given a complete introduction to the company and not just immediately thrown into doing work, I was still the odd woman out. Everyone knew each other and was comfortable collaborating with one another.

I felt so out of place and thought I would never fit in. However, I’m here to tell you that this feeling doesn’t last. Eventually, you will get comfortable with the people that you are working with. I finally did after being with them for two weeks.

Three tips for you to take away to survive your first day…
1. Always have a pen and notebook handy as you will never know when your supervisor will ask you to complete a task for them.

2. List your projects in order from priority to non-priority as your supervisor will expect you to finish certain tasks before others.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Your supervisor won’t mind if you ask a million. You can even ask stupid ones, it’s just always better to ask than to wish you had later on.