Category Archives: Philippa

No internship? Don’t sweat it.

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So much has changed when it comes to summer work: my friends and I spend the majority of spring semester worried about applications, interviews, and affording internships, while my older cousins and parents ask why I’m not working at an ice cream place or camp, like they did in college. Sometimes, especially at a competitive liberal arts school like Scripps, it’s as if we are living in a new world that pressures us to network strategically and think about resume boosters 24/7. I read this article in Forbes the other day that explained why working a minimum wage job gives students an experience that is far greater than an internship. This article was a great reminder that working at a camp, in a grocery store, or ice cream place is actually quite advantageous:

  1. Responsibility. When working as an intern in an office, most often I’m given work that supervisors might not have time for, and believe someone who doesn’t know as much as they do can adequately handle the job. When working a minimum wage job, however, more times than not bosses will ask a lot more of you than what you signed up for originally. When working as a waitress, every day I would be asked to go above and beyond duties such as waiting on customers and cleaning the tables. And even more importantly, the office you intern in would still run efficiently without you. But slack off as a waitress and you could do some serious harm to the restaurant’s reputation or orderliness.
  2. Teamwork. Summer jobs usually require physical work and working with the public in not the most glamorous settings. This experience delegating tasks to co-workers and being a proactive team member during your shift is invaluable. I’ve learned how to be a leader, a responsible team member, and a dynamic communicator through my restaurant jobs.
  3. Communication. Working with the public and with people from different backgrounds is challenging, but there’s no choice in facing nerve-wracking situations that depend on clear communication when working a minimum wage job. From being a waitress and hostess I learned when to speak up and when to go with the flow, how to deal with mini-crises [with the public and with co-workers], and how to adequately annunciate problems/difficulties I was having to my boss.

There are a lot more qualities you get from working typical summer jobs than the ones I reflected on above. The underlying theme is that yes, internships are important for students to familiarize themselves with their potential career atmosphere, but it is by no means a bad thing to not have one for the summer. In fact, working as a camp counselor or ice cream scooper might even prepare you better for whatever you take on later in life than any office job could do.

Who Run the World?

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Working with an all-female staff has it’s advantageous. Female representation in politics, Planned Parenthood, and women world leaders are go-to conversation starters, which creates a stimulating and inspiring work atmosphere. This is my second summer working for a small, women-only run organization – last summer there were only 2 full-time employees, this summer 10. It began to dawn on me today that it is highly doubtful that I will be able to continue working in a female-dominated work place. This realization reminded me of an article written by a Claremont student, who argued that women at Scripps College – and female education institutes in general – will not gain the appropriate skills to fight gender imbalance in the workplace. Here are some of my reflections of the skills I gained from working in an all-female atmosphere:

  1. I don’t feel judged for my clothing, outside work activities, or the foods I consume at work. My friends who are working in larger companies this summer often vent to me about how their every move seems to be scrutinized by their male co-workers. Having the experience of not feeling judged for not being into sports or having a bad hair day enables me to notice when such judgment is happening, instead of it becoming a normalized precondition to working. Having friendly coworkers who showed me from Day 1 that mistakes are OK eases my workplace anxiety. I can take this confidence to initiate conversations and share my opinions into my future internship workplaces.
  1. I feel respected by all my co-workers, from my direct supervisor to the director of the entire program. Nobody cuts me off mid-sentence, talks over me, or doesn’t fully explain an assignment. I am comfortable asking my supervisor for more responsibility, making bold edits/suggestions, and asking questions. Many people might feel absolutely fine doing these things in a male-dominated office, however I am the type to overthink everything and take social signals as cues of how to act very seriously. With the practice of raising my voice among higher-ups, I will be able to do so when I am in the minority.
  1. I feel supported in my academic/extracurricular/career interests. Women tend to value forming relationships more than men, and actively seek out how they can help others. This attitude creates a non-competitive workplace, which I really enjoy. In future internships I hope to continue seeing my colleagues as support systems, people who I can give and receive help from, and not competitors. I’ve also learned from this experience to not be scared to talk about future goals and plans. I received helpful insight when bringing up interning in D.C. [people shared their summer experiences in the city], an office I was applying to in particular [someone knew a friend who worked there], and even class registration.

Exciting News…

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This fall semester I will be studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium. Part of the reason why I chose Brussels is the hybrid program CIEE offers students. Students take 2 classes with other study abroad students and 2 classes directly enrolled in the university. I was also able to get a homestay [without even knowing French or Dutch!]. The coolest part of the program is guidance in securing an internship for the semester – they still say it is competitive, and that they cannot guarantee anyone will hire you, but they give a list of possible internship places, of which you can apply to 3.

Applying to non-summer internships was new for me, but I approached the internship search the same: I looked through all the descriptions of the companies and internship positions before choosing which 3 companies I wanted to apply to. I wanted to try working in a new environment, one where I could really see my economics lessons in real life. The companies ere all international, however I still checked out websites that spoke to the business culture of Europe.

Also, all 3 internships are in the private sector, a sphere I have no experience in it. Though my experience is all in the public sector, I connected experiences and situations I’ve had to deal with at the office to the skills the companies wanted. For example, I used my extensive work experience to show I can learn new applications/programs quickly. Also, my experience on teams [sports, political campaigns, on-campus clubs] helped to show that I understand group dynamics. So, even though I had no real experience in the finance, public relations, or marketing fields, I still found that I had the skills required to be applicable for the job.

A week after sending my applications out, I received an email from one company who wanted to interview with me. I was extremely nervous [I had never had an interview for an office abroad before] but I, again, approached it like domestic interviews. [Skype interviews are great too, you can wear a blazer and shirt with slippers and gym shorts]. The interview was with 2 people working at the company, and they asked the nonspecific questions I have gotten before. I was nervous I wouldn’t be as competitive as others with degrees in business and experience in business, so to compensate I prepared extensively by researching the company’s history, clients, management structure, current projects, etc. During the interview I felt confident when they asked me how much I knew about the company, what I could see myself doing there, why I was interested in the company, and what skills prepared me for it. Though sometimes the video and audio recording was off, the 40-minute interview went smoothly. And…

I found out today that I got the internship! I’m excited to be taking a chance and seeing what it’s like to work in the private sector, in Europe, for a full semester, doing something totally different than what most people with my major do!

Is there anything you’re going to do that’s new/exciting this semester? Any position that, though is completely different than the track you’re on, sound cool?

We’re halfway there….

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Wow! It is already late July, marking the just-past-the halfway point of my summer internship. This blog post will include some of my reflections of my internship so far, as I try to give myself an accurate self-evaluation.

The Good

From other internships, CP&R programs, and older Scripps students I learned the importance of networking. With this knowledge, I say “yes” to invitations for events, and even ask my supervisor for the OK to attend events with her that I see on her schedule. This can be awkward [at least for me, someone who worries about seeming too assertive] but I’ve realized the worst that could happen when you ask your boss if you can attend a meeting or help with a project, is that he/she says “no”. And what’s so bad about that? Since I’ve been putting myself out there with other people, besides my direct manager, they have repeatedly come to me with diverse assignments, allowing me to see different parts of the office.

Working with a small staff that includes several recent graduates has allowed me to start picturing where I’d like to be post-graduation. I’ve been able to talk to ever staff member about what their steps were after graduating college. I started thinking about what I liked/disliked about my overall work experience here, not just on the task that was on hand [I realized flexible work hours are very valuable, as well as having a supervisor who is close at hand].

The Could-Be-Better

I could always be asking for more work, if I could sit in on meetings, etc. Asking for access to more projects than I am given is a challenge for me because I worry about how it reflects on me. However, I’ve realized that I will get much more out of my time at the internship if I speak up and make myself useful.

I want to learn more about the institute I’m supporting. It is easy to go into an internship and complete your assignments and learn about the day-to-day tasks in the office. However, I’m hoping to understand the history, publications, and mission of the institution. In the remaining month of the internship I plan on setting up informal interviews with staff members to learn more about what they do, and what the organization means to them.

I’ve loved my internship so far, and the staff have been supportive and kind. It’s sad that I’m halfway done, but reflecting on the past few weeks helps me realize what more I can do here in the office!

How CORE helped me

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Scripps College is famous for its CORE program, which aims to challenge the preconceived notions students have of the world around them. Often times freshman year I heard my classmates complain about CORE, and how it doesn’t help garner skills employers look for. However, after going through the process of applying and completing internships, I realize now how wrong we were about Scripps’ CORE program. In this post, I’m going to talk about the abilities CORE gave me and how I translate them into “employable” skills.

For starters, I would never be able to communicate as effectively if I hadn’t partaken in the intimate CORE discussion classes. The subject material was always sensitive, particularly during the first semester when the CORE I theme was violence. Furthermore, the readings (from Foucault to Kant) were extremely challenging and focused around complex philosophical theories. At the beginning of CORE I, I had many opinions and reactions to what I was reading, but lacked the know-how of how to put abstract ideas into words. Also, because the subject matter was so delicate I never wanted to misspeak. I developed a system of how to process my thoughts into concrete ideas so that I could express in a clear manner. My CORE I professor helped with this by instructing us to come to class each day with 3 questions and 3 comments about the previous night’s reading. By coming to class prepared with written statements, I felt confident in articulating my thoughts in in-class discussions. It turns out communication skills is one of the most marketable skills out there – every internship I applied for calls for interns who are great communicators. Listening to others in CORE and then reacting to their thoughts in a respectful manner helped hone my ability to collaborate, express my thoughts, and create meaningful discussion. Though not a “concrete” skill – like knowing STATA or Python – Scripps’ small classroom discussions give us practice for conference rooms and team meetings.

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The emphasis of writing also helped prepare me for internships. CORE essays – though brutal in the beginning – refined my writing skills. I often go back to papers I wrote for CORE to see how I structured my introductions and conclusions, the transition sentences I used, and the overall format. Many employers want to know you can write, and when I explain the three-semester writing-intensive CORE program, they feel confident that I will be able to handle drafting company documents.

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Scripps’ liberal arts education has helped me immensely throughout my work experience. There are loads more skills I learned from CORE [multi-tasking, working under a time limit, looking at organizations from different perspectives…] but I encourage you to think of how you changed throughout the CORE experience, and why.