{"id":27792,"date":"2018-12-20T21:23:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T21:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/?p=27792"},"modified":"2023-05-30T23:59:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T22:59:11","slug":"lessons-from-interning-how-to-stand-out-while-blending-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/2018\/12\/20\/lessons-from-interning-how-to-stand-out-while-blending-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from interning: how to stand out while blending in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More graduates are taking on internships than ever before. Five former interns share their wisdom.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2018\/dec\/20\/lessons-from-interning-how-to-stand-out-while-blending-in\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;Lessons from interning: how to stand out while blending in&#8221; was written by Chris Owen, for theguardian.com on Thursday 20th December 2018 15.40 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re seen as a gateway to in-demand jobs in everything from arts and finance to politics and fashion \u2013 and according to a new Sutton Trust <a href=\"https:\/\/www.suttontrust.com\/newsarchive\/over-a-quarter-of-graduates-have-taken-on-an-unpaid-internship\/\">report<\/a>, more graduates are doing them than ever before. But internships are no picnic. They somehow require you to be everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere, part of the furniture but never too at home. Heed the wisdom of these former interns, and you\u2019ll be on your way to perfecting the strange art of standing out while blending in.<\/p>\n<h2> <strong>\u2018I had texts from the boss on evenings and weekends\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Lydia Perry, 22, found an opening with a sustainable events firm and started her internship the same day she interviewed. \u201cAll I\u2019d brought was a pen, so that came as a surprise.\u201d She soon found that the three-day-a-week position began to take over her life. \u201cIt became an all-consuming job, with texts from the boss on weekends and late in the evening. I was shocked by how much was expected of me, but at the same time I was grateful for the experience.\u201d She says that having lots of responsibility but no real sway was also a constant battle. \u201cThe staff did their very best to avoid my Skype calls, even after I started messaging the boss about it on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2018\/nov\/08\/ive-run-out-of-money-at-university-what-can-i-do\">I&#8217;ve run out of money at university \u2013 what can I do?<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Workplace drama is everywhere\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised by all the office politics,\u201d says Freya Phillips, 23, about her internship with a non-profit organisation. \u201cI just blindly assumed everyone was great friends and colleagues, but then I realised that wasn\u2019t the case. Two of the main members of staff just didn\u2019t speak, which was very awkward because it was only a team of 10. I\u2019ve since found that workplace drama is everywhere, so it\u2019s good to get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018I was doing four days a week on top of university and a job\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cYou need to make sure that the value you are getting out of it is more than what you\u2019re putting in,\u201d advises Tatiana Solomon, 31, who did 120 hours of unpaid interning with a PR firm. \u201cI was doing three to four hours a day, four days a week on top of seven modules at university and a job, and the employers just used interns as a way to get rid of the work. They didn\u2019t take the time out of their day to teach us.\u201d She advises researching the expectations on employee <em>and <\/em>employer before taking on any internship, and being bold if they aren\u2019t being met. \u201cIf you feel like you aren\u2019t learning, you need to tell people.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>\u2018Take a risk &#8211; it\u2019s not for forever\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Biology graduate Anna Forbes, 23, worked as an intern in a research laboratory, and says that the best thing was the chance to see professionals up close. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t know what I wanted to do if I hadn\u2019t had the insight into different environments, or met the people I\u2019ve met \u2013 especially my bosses, who have influenced my ambitions massively.\u201d She thinks that internships are the best way to see what catches your eye: \u201cIt can be really valuable to try something completely new, and if you don\u2019t love it, at least it\u2019s not forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2018\/nov\/27\/could-internships-replace-fashion-degrees\">Could internships replace fashion degrees?<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<h2><strong>\u2018I was scared witless\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Nellie Allsop, 23, has a year-long ambassador role with the widening participation scheme at the University of York, which teaches disadvantaged people from ages 8 to 18 about higher education. \u201cI was given a lot of free reign early on in my contract,\u201d she says. \u201cThere was a shadowing period, where I followed a senior ambassador on school visits.\u201d But she was soon thrown in at the deep end. \u201cCue me driving alone down the M1 in torrential rain, having never driven down a motorway before, to a school in Pontefract. But you know, sometimes you have to be scared witless to realise just how much you can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More graduates are taking on internships than ever before. Five former interns share their wisdom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10220698900476085_349663338397715":"","twitter_1370559253_1370559253":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[61,26,559,29,96,558,348,557,232,547,453],"class_list":["post-27792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-article","tag-careers","tag-chris-owen","tag-education","tag-features","tag-guardian-students","tag-higher-education","tag-tips-for-students","tag-uk-professional-networks","tag-universities","tag-young-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}