Life Lessons as a Professional Intern

Bailey Gardiner is my third internship, making me quite a seasoned intern.
My first internship was through my college, good ol' Fitchburg State. I worked for a commercial photography studio that I will not name but check out his work here. Sounds cool, which is why I chose the major when I was 17 and fresh out of high school, but by the end of my semester long internship, I decided that was the last thing I wanted to do. Considering I had just spent 4 years studying commercial photography, I was kind of pissed by the revelation. The internship consisted of me working 8+ hour days, 5 days a week, with the photographer in a large one-room studio. My first day I was given a tour and then my first task which I was to perform daily... making coffee. Yes, it was cliche but that was my job as an intern. The photographer's specialty was taking photos of humidifiers and crockpots for the packages they come in. Sounds exiting huh? Actually on the days we had crockpot shoots, there was a food stylist and graphic designer that would come down and watching them work was pretty cool.
So I graduate college and drive out west and think back on my college days. I had an aunt who worked in Public Relations and I always thought her job was pretty cool. I had also taken some PR classes and had done really well in them. So I started looking for internships in PR since I felt I didn't have enough experience to get a real job.
My second internship was at La Jolla Playhouse. I was thrilled to be working in a real marketing department. The Public Relations department was 3 people and 3 interns. I really didn't know what to expect especially since I knew nothing about theatre. It was definately a learning experience, and I was able to attend alot of free shows, free parties and meet David Bryan & Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi! Plus I loved my boss and still keep in contact with her. The only complaint was there was not much for me to do. I was handed alot of tedious jobs, which I have to somewhat expect from internship work, but I didn't learn much from alot of it. Eventually, I was promoted to a paying position while I worked there, then the economy tanked and the Playhouse had already finished their busy season... so basically I wasn't needed. :(


SO now I am here at Bailey Gardiner, my third and hopefully final internship. Not that I don't LOVE it here, but this working for free thing is getting old :) This one is by far my favorite internship. Here day-to-day I actually have alot of work to do, which is awesome. Seriously, the worst feeling is going into your free job and not having anything useful to contribute. I work on alot of different accounts instead of just one (Playhouse) and I am not alone with one other person all day (photo studio). I am learning valuable industry info (social media trends) from people that know their stuff. I get to work with the other totally awesome interns in this fun & creative environment. PLUS there are occasional doggies roaming around the office, lots of interesting clients to learn about and tasks that actually make me use my brain. After all these experiences, I think I have finally found something that I want to do. This job is always changing. There are always things to learn, people to meet, things to do. I think back when I was 17 and chose Commercial Photography as my major, I was looking for something that I wouldn't get bored doing day-to-day & that I would enjoy doing. Something like working in PR.