Interning as a Sophomore

After losing one of my nannying jobs due to COVID at the beginning of the school year, I felt as if I needed to make a decision regarding my future, get a basic job just to make money, or really focus on school and try my hardest to get an internship. After researching potential companies where I might fit best, I saw that H2 Public Relations was hiring a spring intern on the College of Communication internship board and I decided to apply. Being only a sophomore, I was unsure if I was qualified enough for the position, but I decided to take a leap of faith and see if I could get the position. I fixed up my resume and portfolio and curated a cover letter to their business and pushed submit. Thankfully, I got a response back for an interview a few days later.

​While prepping for the interview, I researched the company and all of their clients; I wanted to make sure that I was well prepared and knew what I was talking about. I had written down answers to all of the basic questions like “tell me about yourself” and “why do you want this job?” just so that I had something prepared, but I didn’t want it to sound too scripted. A few days after the interview, I emailed the woman who interviewed me, thanking her for her time. I also made sure to mention that I appreciated our conversation and mentioned something very specific that we talked about. She replied a day later, offering me the job! I was so excited.

Before I started, my supervisor Andrea gave me an “internship manual” and told me to study up on it before my first day of training. On my first day of training, I learned a lot about the company in general but also what they expected me to do on a day-to-day basis. We talked on Zoom most of the day because this internship is completely virtual, but she gave me a few small assignments that included things like “clipping” and researching clients/stories. Each day she made sure that I wasn’t afraid to ask questions about things I didn’t know and always explained things very well to me. One of my first “big” assignments was making a fact sheet for one of our clients. I was nervous at first, but my supervisor guided me through it, and it ended up turning out great! Now I really feel like I have the hang of things and have multiple tasks to do all at once.
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I’ve been at this internship for almost two months now, and I really enjoy working with everyone at the company, and I am learning so much! Even though there is a lot of work to be done, I don’t feel overwhelmed or anxious anymore. I actually feel like I know what I’m doing, which is a huge step from when I first started.