A Significant Experience – Intern’s Perspective

As I approached the north side of CITY’s headquarters in Oelwein, Iowa, I was nervous to see what my first day will hold. I had previously worked at a few part time jobs before, but never full-time, let alone in a professional setting.

 

For the entirety of the 40-minute drive to CITY, I thought about all the different ways I could impress my superiors and coworkers. These thoughts held for the first five minutes. The rest of the drive, all I could think about were the new systems, programs, and ideas I will have to learn and work with. I also wondered what might happen if I encountered things I was not as familiar with such as invoices or accounts. And what will happen if I have to talk with a client today because they have some sort of inquiry? If I say do something wrong, I could poorly affect the company and cost myself opportunities of future employment all because I felt like I didn’t know anything about CITY other than they provided laundry services and uniforms and had been around for a long, long time.

 

 

But then the scent of detergent and fresh linen reached me as I walked into the building. I reached the break room, and luckily, there was no one there, which gave me a little bit more time to relax. I mostly stared at the clock and watched as time went by. A few minutes later, the door to the production floor swung open, and I saw a familiar face. It was Nicole O’Brien, CITY’s human resources manager, also known as my mom.

 

Let me give a little bit more background on how I got to that point.

 

My name is Quinn O’Brien. My family consists of five people: my mom, dad, myself, an older sister, and a younger brother. Until my older sister turned 14 and began attending public school, we were all homeschooled. After my sister graduated from high school and began attending college, my mom started to work again to help pay for tuition and our other expenses.

 

Long story short, my mom’s professional background included HR management, so she applied for CITY’s open position two years ago, and has been working at CITY ever since.

 

As my own graduation approached, my mom told me I would need something to do with my time besides baseball during the summer, so she recommended I apply for one of the summer internships at CITY. I have a passion for writing and interacting with other people, so she thought the writing position would be a good fit.

 

So, I ended up working as an intern at CITY. I applied, interviewed, and was given the opportunity.

 

However, even though I shouldn’t have been uncomfortable with my mom giving me a tour of her workplace, I was horribly nervous because of the the fact that I was touring MY new workplace as well. An experience that I should have enjoyed was stressful simply because I’d already associated it with a number of responsibilities and possible shortcomings I might have.

 

Throughout the tour, I was introduced to the front office staff. I was then taken to the marketing department at the other end of the building. It is there that I saw another familiar face in the marketing manager, Emily Novotny.

 

I had previously interviewed with Emily and had been in contact with her up until this point. I was then introduced to my other coworkers including our team’s videographer (Nick Swenston); the other interns; and CITY’s marketing editor (Nicole Kessell), who trained me during my internship.

 

What started out as apprehension soon turned to comfort, as the first task I was assigned was to proofread the company newsletter for that month and pick what I did and did not like about the formatting and design of the text. My coworkers were all very open and receptive to what I had to say, so I gained some newfound confidence that I truly was meant to be there.

 

Over the course of that day and the rest of the week, I was introduced to CITY’s various social media platforms and other published works such as articles and press releases. I was asked to write content for social media posts within the first few days, and although I thought the experience would be stressful and painful to start, there was no stress to be had. My job was to write content for the various posts that were needed, and when I finished, I sent them to Nicole Kessell for proofreading and feedback.

 

The first few weeks were a huge learning process but without the pains that are associated with schooling or grades. All the feedback and criticism I received was constructive.

 

Over time, through my trips to the front office and various interviews for writing employee bios, I started to expand the number of people I knew by name at CITY. It was at this point that I began to see that CITY’s family values were not just a gimmick aimed at earning clients; they were an integral part of their internal business model.

 

Examples of the culture include the numerous times I was sent to get quotes, not only from my mom, but from other executives who I had only met once before. As a testament to the friendliness and genuine care for CITY’s success in all areas, the interviews I had with these executives were greatly similar to the casual interviews I conducted with my own mom. All it usually took was an email asking if I could get a few quotes on a certain topic, and the response was almost always “now works great” and “my office door is open.”

 

The availability that each and every employee at CITY is encouraging because not only are they willing to do more than what their job requires of them, but they are excited to do so. This culture is something I believe anyone can get behind, but it takes special people to live it so well.

 

When I needed information to write a piece, everyone was always more than happy to help and contribute whatever it took to help CITY grow. Even if it was just a few words to liven up an article, the desire to do more than what was required of them was evident in each and every employee I worked with; they all had a genuine service mindset. I am grateful I was able to be able to be a part of that, and I was excited to experience my own personal growth alongside CITY’s.

 

After the first two weeks, I was given the opportunity to write my own original article about CITY’s onboarding process for route service representatives, the heart of the company. I had the chance to interview a handful of route service representatives, and the experience was very refreshing. Not surprisingly, when I asked each of them what their favorite part of the job was, every representative said that both the clients they work with and the people at CITY were the reason they stayed at CITY.

 

After a month into my internship, I was given the freedom to write an article about anything I wanted. I decided I felt most passionate writing from an honest, genuine perspective, so I chose to write this article about my experience at CITY from my own perspective.

 

Throughout the experience, I have constantly been shown just how CITY’s culture is constructed to be like a family’s. When it comes to growth, I was given ample opportunities and support to make the most out of each and every project. All in all, the internship was amazing.

 

I am now attending my first semester of college and beginning yet another chapter in my life. Knowing that I will be starting another four years of schooling, living on my own for the first time, and managing my own schedule however I want is both exciting and horrifying at the same time, much like when I first started working at CITY. This internship was a huge jump-start on my education and professional experience. I have a lot of newfound confidence after spending my summer at CITY not only because I’ve gained new skills and spent time in a professional environment, but also because I’ve learned what aspects of the job I do and don’t like as well as what strengths and weaknesses I have. These pieces of knowledge are already helping me with the toughest part of college: figuring out exactly what career I want to work towards.

 

My time at CITY was extremely beneficial, and the combination of professional work exposure and skill development have made my internship one of the most significant experiences in my life.