On being "just" an intern... (Or how to make an impact in only two days a week!)

I've been at Perth Theatre Trust (PTT) for eight weeks now, and it has been everything I could have hoped for and more. I'm not only working in my chosen industry (the arts), but I'm also gaining incredible insight into the particular idiosyncrasies that come with working for a government department. PTT is almost entirely funded by the Department of Culture and the Arts, which means there's almost never as much money in the marketing budget as my manager would like!

This usually isn't a problem, but when it comes to finding (or in this case, re-allocating) funds to hire a new staff member (fingers crossed!), this can prove particularly difficult. At the end of the day, I imagine many of us would love to get that unconditional job offer even before we graduate, based on our internship performance. So how do you make sure that your internship manager values your contribution to their team so much they want to give you a job??

I must admit, I struggled with the concept of being "just" an intern for my first few weeks at PTT. I was only in the office two days a week (Monday and Tuesday), which can make it difficult to maintain momentum on any larger tasks that you might be working on. For example, I do a lot of liaising with talent to secure new content for PTT social media channels. I really enjoy this aspect of my role, but it can be tricky when you have a Friday deadline but don't have a chance to remind the actor/singer/dancer/comedian you've been chatting with after Tuesday of said Friday deadline.

Only being in the office a few days a week can also be problematic if people are trying to get in contact with you. One of my main projects in the last few weeks was wrangling the comedians for the Mental Health Week Closing Ceremony Stand Up! for Comedy show at the beautiful State Theatre Centre in Perth. This project saw me being the first point-of-contact for seven amazing (and very busy!) comedians, which meant getting them all together for a photo shoot a few weeks beforehand, sourcing social media content and information, creating a running order, reminding them to be on their best behaviour (this was comedy under a state government banner, after all), being on-site on the night to take social media photos, welcoming all the comics to the event (and tracking them down if they were running late) and attending the post-show function with comedians, dignitaries and staff from both PTT and the WA Association for Mental Health (our event partner).

The stage at State Theatre centre ready for Stand Up! for Comedy for Mental Health Week 2016.

The night was a huge success and I feel incredibly proud to have been involved, and it is a project that I really believe I went 'above and beyond' on. As I said, I am only in the PTT office on Monday and Tuesday, but for the photo shoot I came in on Friday and of course I was at the event on Saturday night. I'm hoping that this will put me over the top when it comes to an offer of employment at the end of semester. With that in mind, here are my top tips for being seen as more than "just" an intern.

Do more than what is required of you

This is a great rule for any job, whether it is paid or not. If you do more than the bare minimum of what is required of you, it will impress people. Go above and beyond and people will notice.

Volunteer for additional work/assignments
If you've finished all your assigned task, ask for more work! If there isn't any, find some! I've put together several social media schedules without being asked to that are now being implemented throughout our six facebook pages.

Change your language
I read a really interesting article about the power of language in emails (linked here if you're interested) but it applies to spoken language as well. If you refer to yourself as "just" an intern, people will continue to see you that way. Change your language - introduce yourself as 'part of the communications team' and that's how people will start to view you. And it's technically true!

Ask for feedback
Of course we have to have a performance review with our supervisor before the end of semester, but this shouldn't be the first time you seek feedback from your supervisor. I will often send partially completed work to my supervisor to make sure I'm on the right track and that I'm creating something she can use. There's nothing worse than spending hours on a task and then finding you've got the wrong end of the stick!

We're getting to the pointy end of semester now, so hang in there, and good luck finding those grad positions!!!

- Kimberley