Making the change

For as long as I can remember my life has been based around school/education. My years involved going to school/university for most of the year and then summer break. This year however I complete my degree mid-year, or in approximately 10 weeks, leaving the second half of my year unknown, most likely searching for a job and then working. I’ve been quite anxious about completing my degree, it feels like this year I go from being a student/teen, and become an adult, as I enter the “Real World” (no more four month long summer breaks for me). I have encountered the “Real World” before, as I’ve previously done two other bouts of work experience, however they were both for a short amount of time, so the “Real World” and I are more like brief acquaintances. Thankfully I go to Curtin and as part of my course I have to complete a mandatory 20 days of work experience, helping me bridge the gap from student to employee. I have recently completed my 8^th day of work experience and have quickly gained a much larger insight on the “Real World” and the differences between being a student and an employee. Some of these differences were more easily managed as university had prepared me for them. Others were more unexpected, hence why this blog is a little overdue. 

I’ve been fortunate enough to be completing my degree at Platform Communications, alongside Meaghan King. Platform Communications specialise in internal communications and brand management and cater mostly for the mining industry. They have many important and large corporate clients, and have their own in-house graphic designs team. Platform is very busy and is currently expanding as more and more work comes in. Platform Communications is about as “Real World” as it gets. Every day I learn something new, and feel myself gaining skills that would make me a more successful employee; however the “Real World” and I have had more time to get acquainted and sometimes, it has been a struggle.

   

Personally I have found the hardest part of the internship has been learning to concentrate for long periods of time. I’ve found it difficult to sit down for more than four hours at a time. This was especially the case in the first few days, but as I’ve gotten further into my placement I have become more accustomed to such long periods of sitting. At university I rarely sit down for more than three hours so on the first day my biggest challenge was trying to find a way to sit at my desk and stay comfortable and focussed for long periods of time.

One of the reasons my blog is so overdue is because since starting my internship I never have any free time anymore. I remember reading that many people in gen Y valued a good work/life balance over a high paying salary. At the time, when I read that I thought it was crazy, I thought that my fellow Gen Y’s were crazy, however after starting this internship I can definitely see the importance of keeping a healthy work/life balance. I now believe I would be one of those gen Y’s who puts more importance on work/life balance then salary. Between work experience 3 days a week, university the other two, as well as study/assignments, my actual job, sporting commitments and the year of 21^st I barely have time to eat, sleep and shower. Nevertheless I am enjoying all these activities, and am finding the experience very rewarding. I always thought I had good time management skills and prided myself on my efficiency; and with my schedule at the moment this is definitely being tested (I am currently writing this blog while being driven down to Busselton for a friend’s 21st). In PR consultancy we were constantly told that to be successful in consultancy you need to be organised and flexible and so far this has definitely been the case.

One of the reasons I may have found it harder to adjust my schedule to include work experience is because normally my life revolves around night time. I work at night, study at night, and usually my classes are in the afternoon. The 8:30am starts have thrown me off as I can no longer stay awake till 4am studying. My body has had to adjust to waking up before 10am. This has led to a whole body clock change. This change has made me utilise all my organisational and forward planning skills which I know will help me in my future career.

In retrospect I wish I had done my internship over summer instead of during the semester for three main reasons;

1.      It would allow for more free time before and after work experience as you wouldn’t have to study after work experience.
2.      There would be more time to write the major report for this unit.

And lastly and most importantly 

     3.       By doing the internship in semester you have to do it part time. Clients often have strict deadlines so work gets passed along or completed by others. By completing an internship in the break you give yourself the opportunity for more work to be given solely to you, for certain clients or pieces of work to be your responsibility only.

Although it may seem like I may have complained this whole post or am not enjoying my internship this is not the case. I was very excited to get my placement at Platform and in my next post I will tell you about some of the tasks I’ve been given. I hope everyone else has managed to easily transform from a student to an employee, and is enjoying their time at their respective placements. If anyone else has been having trouble adjusting here’s an article that may help