Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Where I Go From Here: Takeaways

Upon completion of my summer internship I thought back to where I started back on May 23rd. I was stepping into my first summer internship – an internship that didn’t have a set program and had no real path. After having a sudden internship change between two separate organizations in a matter of 2 days, I truly had no idea what this internship would entail. I had completed an internship for the entire academic year with an awesome staff and a ton of flexibility, but I knew this one would be much different I just wasn’t sure how.

Now after completing this internship I’ve come to start to realize the difference between college and real world reality. I always thought that in two years when I graduate, I’ll have a great job and be ready to take on the world. Hopefully with some more internship experience I may be – but not quite yet! This past academic year I’ve interned with Sodexo, but I did it from Babson – I’d go to the office in the back of the dining hall every day after my classes, do work in my room in my dorm down the street, and see my coworkers morning, noon, and night every time I got a meal. During my summer internship I drove 40 minutes during rush hour both ways, didn’t work every day of the week, and was always given tasks to complete rather than sometimes having the luxury of creating my own projects when I wanted more hours or needed more work to do at Sodexo. 

At first I was pretty upset with my internship experience this summer – the only reference I had of another internship was Sodexo and it wasn’t a realistic experience for preparing me for the real world, YWCA really was. After completing this summer internship I’ve come to appreciate everything I’ve done this summer and the accomplishments I’ve made. Nothing at Babson has prepared me for the real world the way this summer internship at YWCA did. I’ve realized a few important things about the reality of working after college – (1) I’m not always going to like the tasks I’m given, especially as a new employee, but it’s these tasks that help build up to more important and thought provoking work. (2) The positivity of the coworkers around you can really influence the way you feel about the work place, but once you get the intrinsic motivation thing down you’ll be ready for even the tough days in the office. (3) Not all work will be relevant to your job description, but it’s these tasks that give you the experience to grow and learn in the future. (4) Your job is what you make it. Your attitude can change the way you feel about going to work every day drastically. 

From here I feel empowered to work harder to even better prepare myself for my life after college. I did my best to network this summer to try to use my connections to land another summer internship next year. I’ve also already made the decision to try overload my classes to only two days a week in order to give myself 3 full days every week to get another internship or job that’s off campus and that will give me that real world experience. Honestly, where I go from here is wherever I want to go from here and I thank YWCA for giving me the confidence to take on the real world and make something incredible of myself within it.