Intern (n.) – someone who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than on regular employment.
Despite college being one big primer to survive the maze that is the real world, sometimes one wants to experience what it’s really like outside the security of classroom walls, to learn things not found in textbooks, or to put to test professors’ secondhand stories about the world ‘beyond college.’
Enter the concept of an internship. With tasks ranging from getting coffee to preparing proposals for superiors, it’s all about students finding their role in the workroom.
And these three ladies are taking their respective workplaces by storm.
Climbing the ladder
People often hesitate to take on internships because of the risk involved: while some opportunities are served on a silver platter, most have to deal with starting from the bottom of the food chain. For communication sophomore Samantha Sadhwani, her internship was a bit of both.
Sam landed an internship at MEGA Magazine while on set for a modeling stint.
“You could say that I got the job in an unconventional way,” Sam explains. “When they were interviewing me, I mentioned that I was interested in [becoming an] intern.” The rest, as they say, is history.
Within a week from the interview, Sam began working for the publication—not as a model, but as an intern.
“[I’m an] utusan,” Sam jokes. From arranging shoots to doing pull-outs, she is the go-to girl around the MEGA Publishing office. “It’s more tedious than it sounds. It involves contacting tons of people, scheduling, and going around stores to pick up the products.” Publishing is, after all, a very busy industry, and MEGA’s fashion orientation—with its trend-watching and large-scale shoots—makes her job all the more fast-paced.
Sam takes it all in as a learning experience about what goes on behind the scenes of making a magazine. Even the small things others may take for granted excite her. “I’ve learned how to use the fax machine and photocopier!” she says.
Despite starting off learning these small skills, Sam’s responsibilities in the magazine have grown beyond that of a regular utusan. Aside from her regular field work, Sam was recently asked to write her very first article for MEGA, finally putting the skills she learned in her communication classes to good use.
While all this work may take up her time, Sam manages to keep a steady balance between work and academics. Although it was quite hard for her to juggle both in the beginning, she tries her best not to compromise her time for school and for family. “I learned to be responsible and disciplined,” Sam says.
“It’s all about prioritizing,” she says, encouraging students to take up internships. Her tip: the number one priority should still be academics. “I don’t overload. When I feel like it’s getting too much at work, I let them know.”
Something gratifying
But beyond work-related skills, an internship is an opportunity to pursue personal fulfillment. Take, for example, Bea Osmeña: management student, art lover, and working lady. Like all teenagers, she loves the wind in her hair and the sand in her feet, and yet she decided to use the limited time she has left on top of her classes, school work and org-related activities for work.
When asked why, Bea counters with another question: why not? As a foreword to the interview, she explains that all students need cash—the only thing that’s different is the method of getting it. Bea says that the time spent spending money can instead be used to actually earn money—which isn’t to say that spending is to be frowned upon. On the contrary, a group of friends with dough would most likely have more fun than a group of friends without it.
Now, you may or may not agree with that last statement, but it’s clear that receiving not just pay but other things from work—such as networking, prestige and a cool boss—is enough to spur anyone to look for an occupation.
Bea is currently a manager at Black Book Design, a job which she says is both nerve-wracking and fulfilling. The best thing about her job, she says, is that Black Book is owned by Filipinos in the art world.
“I get to experience the creative industry through the people I meet, and it just so happens I meet a lot of them,” she says. And though the demands of the job has somewhat stalled her easygoing lifestyle, she believes the thrill of working is worth the effort. “I’ve gotten better at talking to people, I’ve learned that it’s hard to run a business, and lastly, [I’ve learned that] it’s hard to be a working student.”
Her current two bosses go by the names of Archie and Adrian and they themselves have cool jobs: a graphic designer and a commercial director, respectively. For her part, though, she is responsible for sales, merchandising, event-managing, and cleaning up the morning after those events.
Internships are hard work, and all students interested in them should expect that. But despite the stress they bring, Bea believes that taking the chance to use one’s spare time to experience something fruitful and gratifying makes it worthwhile.
Doodling a dream
Elisa Aquino’s foray into the world of art began with a sheet of paper during an especially boring high school class.
“I just got a sheet of paper and filled it with stuff and colored it,” muses the 18-year-old information design sophomore. “People told me, ‘wow, that’s pretty.’ … This started everything.”
Her once random, spontaneous doodles have now taken a life of their own, and catapulted her into the internet spotlight. Aside from her doodling, which she mainly pursues through her Tumblr blog (thunderpopcola.tumblr.com), Elisa moonlights as the art editor for Stache magazine. This past year, she also started working as an intern for the famed Cubao X hotspot Heima, a lifestyle store with a Filipinized Cath Kidston aesthetic that sells pretty, functional items for home and work.
“They don’t treat us like we work for them; we work with them,” she says of her internship. “Every week we have to submit five designs, as a promotion for the third collection, which they post on their blog and Facebook.”
However, it is not just the chance to pursue art that has Elisa head over heels for Heima. Her stint as a designer/marketing intern/occasional saleslady—“We need to know the prices of items, in case there’s a customer while we’re in the store”—has also paved the way for her to come out of her shell.
“I learned to socialize, to talk to people,” she says, citing Heima’s “Love Is In The Air” event as her gateway to becoming more outgoing. “That was the first time that I saw how wonderful this business was.”
With her stint at Heima nearing its end, Elisa reflects on how she’s managed to survive juggling school, work and her artistic pursuits. “I don’t like taking a break from anything,” she explains. “If I have free time, I use it to either study or update my blog.”
Her advice to those wanting to pursue what she has pursued? “Don’t stop believing. A lot of things that I thought were impossible back then are things that I do now.”
