Chelsea Anne Person
NPACE Blog Post
Fri., Feb. 13, 2015
Internships are great. Especially challenging ones and the environment they create for professional and personal growth. Two weeks ago my boss invited me to sit in at a monthly breakfast meeting held at the Cunningham Conference Center on CSU’s campus. I had the pleasure of hearing from Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, the keynote speaker, Columbus State University Interim President, Tom Hackett and several other community leaders. Afterwards, I practiced my professional networking skills shaking hands and chatting with several of these folks.
Word on the street is work in the Communication and PR professions are “all about who you know.” Of course there is follow through; it doesn’t matter who I know if I’m bad at my job. However, I have been told repeatedly to invest in relationships because relationships are bridges to many life opportunities.
At my internship, I’m working on several projects, the biggest, planning a women’s benefit luncheon for this spring. I’m kind of Type A, so this comes with many personal challenges…
Over the past few months I’ve used several self-assessment tools that have revealed my preferences and strengths while also shedding light on my weaknesses. I prefer social environments and hands on activities. I crave interaction and love goals. On the flipside, I overcommit and sometimes fail to manage stress.
At my internship I’m growing personally as I learn how perform tasks that I don’t prefer like creating Excel charts and timelines that are necessary to pull off a luncheon. I’m also learning how to handle stress and meet deadlines. This is so important. If my internship experiences allow me to get a head start in these two areas, my inkling is, post graduation I will be bounds ahead of my colleagues who may be resistant to growing their weaknesses and managing stress.
