When the Tables Turn
I was giddy when given the green light to hire and manage a summer intern. Extra help! Shaping the minds of the future! Extra help! Also, I interned in college, so I’m practically an experienced manager. Mmkay, not really.
I had one big project I needed lots of help with, but it was kind of snooze worthy. I wanted the internship to be more than that so I created a research/writing project that would further our brand’s reach, be a semi-challenging assignment and score my intern some worthwhile bylines. Portfolios don’t build themselves, yo.
We spent some time together reviewing the magazine’s social media strategy and time reviewing the strategies of other brands he liked. I prepped him for meetings so he could participate instead of just observe and he attended an event we sponsored and got a taste forthe swanky marketing life that, too.
If the tables were turned, I’d probably give myself a B+ as a manager. It’s hard to determine how much someone already knows and it’s hard to balance giving them too much and not giving them enough. Most of all it’s hard to know if this was beneficial or not. I know he probably won’t even know that until next semester when his work here makes a particular idea in class come to life—I hope it does.
I had one big project I needed lots of help with, but it was kind of snooze worthy. I wanted the internship to be more than that so I created a research/writing project that would further our brand’s reach, be a semi-challenging assignment and score my intern some worthwhile bylines. Portfolios don’t build themselves, yo.
We spent some time together reviewing the magazine’s social media strategy and time reviewing the strategies of other brands he liked. I prepped him for meetings so he could participate instead of just observe and he attended an event we sponsored and got a taste for
If the tables were turned, I’d probably give myself a B+ as a manager. It’s hard to determine how much someone already knows and it’s hard to balance giving them too much and not giving them enough. Most of all it’s hard to know if this was beneficial or not. I know he probably won’t even know that until next semester when his work here makes a particular idea in class come to life—I hope it does.