(Knock Knock)…Hey…You got a sec…
I don’t know if this is the case for everyone, but for me, these were the words that made me cringe, and usually was followed by an assignment containing the most menial tasks.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am very grateful for the opportunity to be helpful in the office and contribute, and I understand that inevitably there is always a job that has to be done by someone that is less than..ah..sexy. And, as the intern, I am more than ready to accept that part of my duties, to balance all the interesting work I do, is to do the work no one else wants to do. This is reality.
Yet…it still takes an effort to smile and say…”Absolutely, what have you got for me..”
Where was I going with this…
Right…sometimes you have to deal, and many times these little projects lead to a sidebar that is most interesting, and extremely educating… Par example,
I am combining several contact lists with hundreds, thousands of names, then getting rid of duplicates, for an eventual mailing for the announcement of a deal closing. ( Side note, learn your excel functions, they save hours of time and frustration)
And what do you know, I come across a gentleman who has the same last name as I do, and who is an executive of a fortune 500 firm…So, naturally, I put the project on hold and do a google search, to see if I can find more information, and there it is.. This guy’s a big shot.. and maybe we’re related. So I call my grandma, and ask if we have any connection to family in Poughkeepsie, NY. She says, sure we do, give him a call…So what do I do, I give him a call, and next thing you know I have an corporate finance internship at a Fortune 500 next summer without so much as a resume sent…..
Right so I made that up..the truth is that I saw a similar last name and probably began daydreaming for a couple minutes before I returned to the spreadsheet. And no, sometimes there is nothing to be gotten out of a menial task, other than pleasing a co-worker, a benefit I in no way mean to diminish because it is vital to success in an internship.
So, buck up, smile, and say, what have you got for me.