A Side of Blog: A Day in the Life of an Intern, p.i

By Kristen Sheets, Akhia Public Relations, Intern

Part One: The morning (Catch "Part Two: The afternoon" next week)

9:30 am:

I love Mondays. Stepping in the door, I am consumed by the smell of coffee, as usual, and head back to my cubicle, which surprisingly has become very cozy. After turning on my laptop, I check all my emails from the previous weekend. Next step, take out my favorite thing on my desk: my AKHIA pad of paper which holds my to do list for the day. On today’s plate: finish 600 copies of press releases, construct 50 press kits, continue making follow-up calls, work on agency status report, and finish brackets for this month’s Word Has It (WHI).

9:38 am:

Busted! I just got caught pouring the last of the regular coffee into my cup. Mental note: Learn how to use Akhia coffee pot!

9:42 am:

Meet with my internship advisor. As a routine, every morning when I come in, Lindsay and I talk about what we have going on for the day. Lindsay makes sure she knows what I have going on and lets me know what she needs me to do for the day. We usually talk for about 20 minutes, but it isn’t unusual that we stray from the topic a little. Lindsay is the person I go to for any questions or concerns I have really about anything. Being in intern, I know I have a lot to learn, and it’s nice to have someone I can ask to help me out. I now consider Lindsay a mentor. I feel like over the last two months, I have learned more here than I did at school. It’s such a different experience actually in the field than sitting in a classroom.

10:00 am:

I believe the scariest thing when you start working somewhere is the fear of sending out a mass email. I have come to master this and now even have my own signature at the bottom (I would have had it sooner, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it!). I no longer hold that fear of pressing the send-to-all button on the top of my screen. Today’s mass email: send me your winners for this years NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Championship. I am writing a blurb for this month’s WHI on the championship and who Akhia thinks will take the title. WHI is a monthly newsletter sent out by the company. I have been writing topics for it since I started. In January, I started small, and ended up way off the map in regards to the actual topic of the newsletter. Now, two months later, I write a good amount of the letter. Writing this gives everyone a chance to see the way I write as well as what I am interested in.

10:10 am:

Set up a word document for the brackets as they come in from emails.

10:25 am:

Message waiting. I walked away to start the copy machine and I magically have a message waiting on my voicemail. Akhia got me a phone because of the amount of calls I make during the day. They allow me a long leash in regards to the work they give me. I do not feel like I am just an intern here. They value the work I am doing for them and they let me know. They also are great at giving me feedback. After I write releases, each AE makes sure to go over the changes with me so I understand how to make my writing better.

10:35 am:

Start follow-up calls while also printing releases from the copy machine. I have come to love the copy machine; however, I seem to break it pretty much every time I use it. It’s more of a running joke around the office now. Whenever it is malfunctioning, I am usually the person that was last to copy something. Recently, it completely shut off while I was copying and when it booted back up there were about a zillion arrows on the screen pointing to places where a mis-fed occurred. I swear the copy machine has it out for me!

10:55am:

The 600 copies are finished. Ran over to see how Patsie wanted me to ship them out. She explained to me how to get a courier to pick them up. Everyday I learn a different way to ship. I just recently mastered shipping from UPS. I made the calls, boxed up the releases, and wrote out the labels.

11:05 am:

Back to my computer. Grey’s Anatomy usual Monday morning talk. My cubicle is located back in the creative space, otherwise known as “the cave”. All of the ladies back there watch mostly the same television shows, so typically we dish about the previous nights line up. Last night was Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. We all know the characters and really speak about them like they are our good friends. When I started this was an easy way for me to get to know people I work with. A love for television engulfs Akhia. We have a 'Survivor' pool going where the employee whose person gets voted off has to bring in a treat on the following Monday. The winner receives the cash everyone threw in to play. Enough gossip, back to my follow-up calls.

..to be continued...

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A Day in the Life of an Intern, p.i

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