One of my biggest pet peeves is when my expectations don’t meet reality. This is probably one of the worst pet peeves to have since this problem is inevitable and constant. Like when we expect a beautiful sunny day at the beach, and are confronted with a thunderstorm. Or when that super cute dress you picked out just doesn’t fit right. It happens to everyone, and this happened to me last summer at my internship.
Kim can’t even….
After being offered the job, I would often re-read the position description in order to get a better sense of what I would be doing everyday in a matter of weeks and to be as prepare as possible on the first day of work. I was excited to learn new computer skills, design skills, communication skills, and other said promised skills. The list of different tasks and skills I would learn and practice at this job excited me and made me eagerly anticipate the first day of work.
As Day One passed, and the days kept rolling by, I realized that I hadn’t really learned or practiced any of the skills listed on the initial position description. Disappointed, but still optimistic, I asked my boss about certain tasks we had discussed me doing in my interview. To my dismay, she said that there were more pressing things for me to do and that as the number of staff was running low, they needed my help in other areas.
Needless to say, my expectations definitely did not meet the reality I was faced with. Yet, rather than complaining, I decided to take advantage of the unrelated tasks I was given, to meet new people at work and learn more about their experiences. Since I was constantly bounced around, I was able to meet a lot of other young people with varying backgrounds and experiences leading up to their job there. It was very interesting to hear the different perspectives, from a woman who had her PhD in Art History, to an engineer who wanted to go back to school to study film. Listening to everyone’s perspectives allowed me to gain insight on my own career path, and take comfort in the fact that everyone was a bit all over the place. If anything, I had made some great new connections and friends coming out of this internship.
In addition, I used the time I was given in the different departments to learn about the inner functioning of these sectors, and see the differing dynamics between co-workers unfold. In all honestly, this is basically a fancy way of saying eavesdropping. I’ve always been a good listener, and this asset became very helpful when working in different departments, where I was able to listen in on meetings and phone calls, etc. Although I may not have been directly invited in to the meetings, I was able to listen in (sometimes through the cracked doorway, no shame) and learn about how different departments collaborate and the different roles people have in larger decision-making. Honestly, this was probably the coolest thing I did at my internship, and where I learned the most.
We’ve all been there
In addition, I was often left to fend for myself, and basically had to find something to do for hours on end. Reminding myself that I needed to make the best impression, even if I wasn’t having the best time, I would locate an empty computer and being a new project, which I would later present to my boss. She was consistently impressed with my proposals and the diagrams I made to go along with them, or the well-planned out activities and lessons that I came up with on the three hours where I was left alone upstairs.
Overall, although my expectations didn’t meet my reality, I did come out of this experience with new insight and the ability to be patient. Although I did not learn or perfect my InDesign skills as promised, I did perfect the art of flexibility and made the best out of what could’ve been a miserable experience.
