Goodbye and Good Luck! Three Winning Tips We Should All Bear in Mind

Hi everyone,

I finished my internship last Wednesday! I spent the morning working again at one of Event and Conference Co’s own events- The Winning Mindset. This was a corporate breakfast held at the Parmelia Hilton, complete with eggs benedict (my favourite meal in the world), journalist Katie Price as MC, and special guest, eagles star Josh Kennedy. Falling on World MS Day, Josh, an MS Society ambassador, spoke to the audience about his life on and off the football field, his business interests and his affiliation with the MS Society.

above (L-R): myself, Josh Kennedy and fellow intern/peer Emily.

The event was a great end to my internship, partly because I too got to enjoy the breakfast and also because it ran smoothly without a hitch. I’ve really enjoyed my time at Event and Conference Co and am sad to be saying goodbye to all the lovely people I’ve met along the way. I don’t know what I’ll do with my Mondays now! If I had three pieces of advice I could pass on to future interns, it would be these:

1.  Have confidence in yourself

Just because you’re an intern and inexperienced compared to others in your workplace does not mean you’re completely incompetent! Have faith in your abilities; you haven’t spent the past two and a half years writing media releases for no reason. An internship is a place to test your skills and build on them; no one is expecting you to get it right the first time. Accept that you can only learn from your mistakes, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. You’re there to learn, and to prepare yourself for life beyond uni, so make the most of it and prove to everyone around you that you’re ready to graduate and make it in the big bad world.

2.  Fake it ‘til you make it

This is something one of my supervisors told me on my last day. Working for a small business in the events management industry can be extremely competitive, and the pressure is always on to find new clients or coordinate events that occasionally staff members may have no experience in. Half the time our supervisors may not even know what they’re doing, but they’re confident in their abilities to pull off the event and that they are able to work in the best interests of their client. If you have confidence in yourself and your capabilities, people will have confidence in you. So don’t doubt yourself, and if you are for whatever reason- fake your confidence. Fake it until it comes naturally to you.

3.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help

We are interns and we are learning! Everyone understands that. If you don’t understand the task assigned to you, please don’t spend half an hour staring at your computer screen wondering what you should do or thinking of ways to procrastinate (I may/may not have done this). Just ask for help, no one is going to bite your head off for it. If anything, asking for help shows initiative, and proves to your supervisors that you’re eager to learn and to complete this task to the best standard possible.

This has been an unforgettable experience, and has given me much needed confidence and preparation for life outside of uni. I wish all of my peers the very best once they graduate, and good luck to everyone who is about to start their internships for next semester!

Signing off for the final time,

Clare


17095543
Bentley Campus