National Intern Day 2019 and I was more than excited to finally meet other interns at various departments. Although I loved working with my team, it was nice to meet new faces that were my age for the first time in 10 weeks.
After the festivities and Insomnia cookies, the 200 of us interns started to play various games and we spoke about our beloved dreams in an intern, no employee safe space. I realized I quickly became opposed to talking about these topics especially since all the interns said the same thing: I wish to intern here next year, get a return offer, and work here forever (sunset emoji).
I was embarrassed because my dreams were not one bit the same as everyone else’s and for a while, I felt out of place.
I started questioning myself, bringing up the imposter syndrome, and coming up with scenarios and reasons why their dreams are not realistic. Am I in Lala Land or do I need to snap back to the basics with a steady, reliable yet not so enthusiastic job working as a tenured teacher forever?
I choose to intern at companies that share the same values as me and I hope to become an asset for their team. Our careers change all the time. We hop around companies finding new positions, learning new languages, and meeting new people constantly but by speaking with peers my age, it doesn’t seem like they were told the same thing.
Isn’t life about enjoyment or has it come down to finding a reliable job that you can expect a steady income source from?
A career isn’t linear, but can’t it be a rough but exciting path at the same time?
After digesting the last crumb of my $12 Insomnia chocolate chip cookie, the gathering of interns slowly became smaller and smaller, unsure why.
Eventually, I followed the clan as well but not my dreams.
In relation to our careers, I believe soft skills are much more vital than hard skills because anyone can learn them. We’ve got intensive training before our internship that prepared us more in a week than in a full year or two at college.
Being able to deal with tedious tasks that you probably won’t like all the time but need to get done to support the business, be able to deal with co-workers and stay in the same cubicle with them 10 plus hours a day, be energetic and open-minded, and most importantly have fun goals about how you want to view progress and achievement at the company is what goes on in my mind when I decide on a position or choose to apply to a firm.
I would suggest you find this mentality because, at the end of the day, you can teach anyone hard technical skills, but if you don’t have the basic speaking, comprehension, and management skills to make the workplace a better place that translates to a high performing company, then I would focus your energy on improving those skills.
Back to the dream talk.
“My dreams are not general enough,” one intern told me.
Yet, no one can predict the future and that is certainly proven these days with this pandemic.
But besides prediction and becoming a genie, I would say, pinpoint why your dream exists.
I shape it as a goal, not a dream.
Understand how this goal will:
-Shape and transform you
-Allow you to become a better person
-Instill values and more truth
-Allow you to work more efficiently-not harder or longer
-Be a kinder, gentler, and understanding person
If your goals can answer at least 2 of those, then you should strive to reach for the stars.
I was always a fanatic researcher and wanted to be a detective in middle school. If I wanted to know how long it would take me to walk to the ice cream shop before dinner, I would calculate it via Google Maps and search the internet how long it would take me to take the least beaten path so my sweet tooth wouldn’t be caught before dinner.
This might not be a skill that is obvious but it certainly comes in handy in daily life.
These are some underappreciated skills I’ve embodied as a 19-year-old that I would recommend having even though no one asks if you do.
They will make your life 10x easier becuase they have for mine in any aspect of life:
-Emailing someone TO THE POINT
The subject line is a make or break. Be concise and it will be opened.
-Cold Calling
Always intimidating but it is like a weak muscle that needs to be trained. Seek mentors and ask to chat with them about your *true* goals, not those general intern regretted ones.
When emailing a mentor, professor, or someone you are intimidated by, first, thank yourself that you have the opportunity for email versus writing a physical letter and delivering it to them like in the older days and second, be grateful that you don’t have to talk to them right away! Email is a great step so utilize it effectively!
They are just humans after all. The hardest part is initiating that email so make it concise and to the point of what you want and of course how they can benefit as well.
-Dealing with Awkward Silence
One of our dreaded fears and the main reason people avoid parties. If it happens, which is always likely especially with someone new, embrace it!
They will open up more since they know you won’t provide them an answer that they don’t want to here.
Silence is time to take a breath and think, it will help in the long run.
Filler words are a killa.
-Small Talk
Something we also dread at parties.
How are you?
What’s the weather like?
Wow.
We are a pretty boring species. Talk about something personal, the more relatable you are the better!
No one cares about how you are because if you ask a general question you will get a general response.
Some alternatives to “How are You?”:
-How’s Life?
-How Are You Feeling Today?
-What Went On Today?
-What’s Up-tricky because the response is usually the same as to “How are you? Which is good, nothing much, etc.
-Googling!
My story above referenced this. To be a good Googler, if that’s a word, maybe we should look it up, you must be able to articulate exactly what you want with fewer filler words.
Have the topic points/words in your search and look at the first page of the results. After that, it might not even be related!
This is a lifesaver, time saver, and headache saver since you won’t be scrolling for hours looking for an answer.
-Self Control
Our phones and technology are made for addiction.
How have we all become attracted to it and our obsession only gets worse every day? Because we lure ourselves into thinking it isn’t bad and we NEED it for work.
Yes, phones are very useful, but social media trolling isn’t. Time = precious and the more you have, the more advantage you have over your peers.
Best things you can do under self-pressure or obsession:
-Set time limits on your apps
-Leave it alone for the first 2-3 hours in the morning, see how you feel, and write down that feeling so you can check back later how pleasant it felt.
-Understand your side effects. Too much of anything is not good. A little is fine and finding that balance can be tricky but it is rewarding.
-Snap out of the present. Think about future consequences and how much guilt you would feel if you just wasted hours on social media or watching mindless YouTub. You can never get that time back so use it wisely!
-Asking Questions
“There are no stupid questions.” easier said than done but it is true, most of the time.
Trust me, no one will remember the question you asked only what the professor said so the audience can write down the answer he provided to your intelligent question.
-People care about themselves the most and what other people think about them. You are brave for asking questions and whatever, wherever you are that requires or propels you to ask those questions, is a safe space. You are there for a reason to learn or practice so get the most use out of it and don’t let others be ahead of you becuase you didn’t take that opportunity!
-Dealing and Overcoming with Failure
We all want success and it is glamorized as something magnificent with luxurious yachts and cars. Honey, it takes years maybe decades to achieve that with work that must be done at the top and exceptional level. No one gets rich overnight and if they do, they don’t value the reason to work hard.
Don’t have a dream to work hard to retire by 30. Work hard to make a change and make sure that you tell yourself that you can continue working this hard when you are 60 or when everyone else chills or goes to parties because there is nothing more exciting in this world.
Failure is scary and especially as a student, we avoid it because we don’t want a bad GPA. It is unfortunate that we choose our classes not based on what we want to learn or the challenge but rather what grade we want at the end.
It is better to realize this now than later. The world doesn’t work that way. If you prepare yourself now by taking risks, it is easier than taking them when you re older.
Everyone is jealous of younger people because they have the biggest advantage= time.
These are a few of the skillsets that are in the middle of the category: soft and hard skills. With these skills I’ve practiced and maintained over time, I’ve become a more ecstatic, vibrant, personable, and respected individual. These aren’t skills you can show on your resume per se, but they will certainly sparkle in that interview or when you are around others.