Tell me if this sounds familiar: You walk into the first day of your internship and meet your fellow interns for the first time. Your internship coordinator shows you your desk, gives you a form or two to fill out, and walks you around for an office tour along with staff introductions. You finally arrive at the door of the mag's EIC, you smile politely and shake hands, and then never talk to them again.
Yep, that's happened to me. I can't say that it was intimidation, but I truthfully had no reason to even cross paths with the EIC at my first internship. She was constantly busy and everyone on staff said nice things about her, but when the last week of my internship rolled around I didn't bother saying goodbye or thank you, since I wasn't sure if she even remembered my name in the first place.
I wasn't too happy with that idea. I understand that the EICs are always one of the busiest people on staff, but the thought of leaving another internship and being forgotten by the first name on the masthead within seconds of my departure doesn't sound too comforting. That's when Annie brought up the idea of scheduling some time to have us sit down and talk with the EIC of Lifestyle Mag before we left. Scary thought, but I was totally on board. Here goes nothing.
I wasn't too happy with that idea. I understand that the EICs are always one of the busiest people on staff, but the thought of leaving another internship and being forgotten by the first name on the masthead within seconds of my departure doesn't sound too comforting. That's when Annie brought up the idea of scheduling some time to have us sit down and talk with the EIC of Lifestyle Mag before we left. Scary thought, but I was totally on board. Here goes nothing.
As it turns out, our fearless leader is actually pretty fearless. Annie and I didn't spend much time asking for career advice, but thought the appropriate conversation for our specific case was to talk about the brand and which direction it was going in. We learned so much about the brand that we had been working for all summer, and I left her office with a sense of pride that I'd had a hand in helping her team succeed. A very little hand. One of many very little hands. Ok, maybe just a back scratcher, but I still helped.
At one point in the conversation the topic began to flow to how she'd landed her job. She has an impressive resume as an editor, and of course Annie and I were dying to leave with one of her perfectly polished pearls of wisdom. We were lucky, because she told us that she got to where she was by being vocal at every job she'd ever had. Vocal, but not intrusive. If she had some good ideas for an editor, she'd send them their way with no pressure for a reply. If someone needed to stay and get a late night project done, she never said no and doesn't regret it. She told us that this industry is comprised of nothing but hard workers, but the key is to not suffer silently at your desk and not make an impression of some kind on the staff.
We both walked out of her office at the end of our meeting with undying respect for the small staff that we'd worked for all summer. Not only had the EIC been kind enough to set aside time for us, but she made sure to mention the importance of her staff and the importance of having interns such as ourselves to help them out along the way.
Did you ever have any meaningful, or even funny encounters with your mag's EIC? Let me know in the comments section!
Until Next Week,
Lifestyle Intern
This is very helpful! Thank you
ReplyDelete