Opening the Door

Welcome to my very first blog post.  

My name is Mila and I will take you through a reflective journey of my experience interning at not-for-profit organisation, Diabetes WA (DWA) between September 2012 until February 2013. 

I have been studying at Curtin University for almost 4 years now but somehow managed to shy away from taking up the opportunity for hands on experience, despite the constant encouragements from teachers, lecturers and  fellow students to try it out. “They’re not paying you so they won’t expect too much from you” I recall some friends say and another popular one was “haven’t you applied for an internship yet, it’s so easy!”  The simple truth was that the thought of putting myself in a position where I was to be judged on my newly learned PR skills was one of the most daunting thoughts, second to none. I would have rather skydived.  It’s not that I thought I was incapable, I was worried to let anyone down  through my mistakes; “The Real World” high stakes got to me. This was true until one day a previous Accounting tutor of mine put me in contact with my then soon-to –be supervisor at Diabetes WA.

The opportunity was advertised and I was told “a few others” had gone for the position but that didn’t deter me, instead I began preparations to get an interview.  I revamped my CV and I researched the organisation; who is DWA? What do they do? Who are their audience? What events had they previously been involved in? What projects do they have in the works? What is Diabetes? How prevalent is it in our society? What makes DWA relevant? Is DWA on social media?

I followed up by reading plenty of fact sheets and online blogs and started following the organisation on Facebook and Twitter. I had become so fascinated with the work they carried out that I was ecstatic when I received a call for an interview.

I still had a few days to prepare some more, so after recalling a few casual in-class tales about how horribly unprofessional it was to be late, ever, I decided to prepare the best I can for this interview. I familiarised myself with the location of the office.  I made my way down a few days prior to the meeting and made sure I knew how long it took me to drive over and scouted the best parking spot for the big day.  Was I over doing it? Maybe, but with good reason; after forty-five minutes of two interviewers “get to know me” in a big Board Room, I was asked to join the team.

Not only that, I was also offered time to think the offer over.  My supervisor gave me the weekend before needing an official response– like I needed the weekend to think it over! Nevertheless, I took up the offer and called to express my interest first thing on the following Monday.

Upon reflection, this was the beginning of quite an incredible professional and personal journey where I became an employed Marketing  Assistant.  I was also where I was fortunate enough to meet some brilliant people along the way, including my to-be supervisor in another organisation.  It was all happening.    

I look forward to sharing my experience and also getting some insights from all of you.

 Until next time!

Mila Basiman