After five months of the nine to five corporate relations grind at a Fortune 500 Company here in Nashville, Tenn., take it from someone who knows. Making the mental switch from Vanderbilt to an internship in corporate America may not be instantaneous, but it’s certainly not rocket science either. Odds are you’re in for a surprise about professionalism but not necessarily the kind you bargained for.
So you’ve sold yourself during the interview as the interim golden child. Congratulations. You start the internship expecting sparkling, adult business behavior. And then the bubble bursts. Suddenly Dilbert cartoons are hilarious because they’re true, the entire cast of Office Space works in adjacent offices and you might just be more mature than the suit-clad senior executive to whom you’re handing his Starbucks seasonal latte. Take a breath, rookie. This is their world, and you’ve got to figure out how to live and work in it.
Guts. Tact. Practice. Purpose. Those four little words are the keys to understanding office professionalism for your first internship experience, and without them you’re going to lose it. If you’re lucky enough as an intern to break through the coffee and filing barrier to take on a task of substance, you’ve got to stand up for yourself and keep your cool when things may not be as efficient or successful as you imagined. Never fear however, because after a few tries, you’ll get the hang of knowing who to talk to and what the right questions are to ask them. If you do this, you’ll command the attention you’re looking for from most anyone, whether they run facility reservations or a major corporation.
As a rule of thumb, you don’t always have to identify yourself as an intern when dealing with parties outside of the organization. If you have the authority and enough information to make a decision, do it and feel good about yourself. The advantages of the big reveal can sometimes be difficult to judge—there are those who will purposefully ignore an intern and others who may bend over backwards to help you learn something. When dealing within your own company, it’s best to identify your role. A simple oversight on my part while updating executive bios this fall left the human resources department convinced for a week or more that I was an auditor and out for blood. Learn to gauge your audience and identify yourself when it is helpful to the situation or when you might not have all the answers. Regardless of your approach, everyone you interact with is a contact, and networking is a major part of the game.
As I prepare for the final week of my internship, I’ve come to realize that workplace professionalism is little more than a formality. To be a professional is to be capable of interacting with others while maintaining their respect and promoting good business. Let’s face it. We all bring both our talents and neuroses to the office with us each day; we just have to become a pro at balancing the two.
