The five most valuable lessons I’ve learned
With summer approaching, so too does internship season or the internship itself. While I am still in the infancy of my career, even looking back seven years to when I was in high school, it’s incredible to see how working in and for the industry has changed my perspective. Regardless of whether one is just entering the workforce, has an internship, or is looking for one, these are the valuable lessons I learned as I navigated from high school until now. It’s the advice I wish I had when I first started.
Ask Questions
This tends to be obvious in theory but challenging in reality. When one is the new face at the company and inexperienced as well, it is very intimidating to appear lost and unknowledgeable. Yes, attempting to do an assigned task is admirable, but asking for help or guidance on how to do an operation right is commendable not only because one’s skills and knowledge are expanded, but also because the job is guaranteed to be done correctly. Usually, co-workers are more than happy to help and educate new staff on how to do the task right rather than having to make corrections later. Moreover, any job is a two-way street. No one is perfect one hundred percent of the time and leveraging your expertise to ask questions about why something is performed a certain way can frequently identify unexpected errors before they become problems.
Avoid Tunnel Vision
The graphic communications industry has distinct divisions, including sales and customer service, prepress, press, and finishing, to name a few. While each area is distinct, only understanding one facet of the industry is incredibly dangerous because a single job passes through every department and the combined efforts of each are needed to produce the finished product. It can be terrifying to talk to operators in other departments but they are matchless sources of invaluable information, from explaining how they execute specific jobs to pointing out problems in a job’s early stages. Mistakes carry all the way through the production process and not understanding how other departments influence each step can be disastrous.
Listen Actively
There are always going to be co-workers, customers, and managers giving feedback. The worst thing to do is to ignore these assessments, or to listen and not acknowledge what is being said. People offer their advice for any number of reasons, and listening passively will not do anyone any favours in the long run. Nodding through something one has “heard before” may seem easy but making presumptions about what someone is going to say can be incredibly myopic because important information could be dismissed out of hand or the point of the conversation may be overlooked. Feedback is not solely criticism; it usually is accompanied by useful advice and new ideas; these facets of feedback help employees grow.
Manage Ambiguity
Performing just one specific task is very rare nowadays. Managing ambiguity means anticipating what co-workers are going to need before they do and taking the appropriate action to satisfy those needs. There may also be times where an employer is going to describe a problem that has to be solved, but is outside one’s responsibilities or skillset. How an individual reacts and handles these unexpected problems sets them apart and proves how versatile they can be.
Have a Positive Attitude
Having a positive attitude and a good work ethic will get someone incredibly far along any career path. I try to work on this every day by seeing the positive in every task or challenge I encounter. Every interaction is a networking opportunity. Regardless if an employee works in an organization for just a few months or for many years, every connection made is a potential future contact, reference, or resource; people will remember a positive, cooperative attitude.
I try to take these five kernels of wisdom that I have amassed and put them into practice every day. Everyone is going to make mistakes but the action taken to correct these errors, the attitude demonstrated by the individual, and the ability to learn, listen, and grow is what will make your internship or job a worthwhile experience.