MHCCIM: Beddow Internship

From your own point of view, describe two strengths and two weaknesses you discovered about yourself during your internship experience.

Can they be one and the same?

Strengths: 1) Inclusive, involve others in process–believe that everyone has a piece of the truth. 2) Conscientious. This involves attention to detail and thoughtful approach to work and work relationships. It is a strength but can lead to my being over-cautious and not taking action. Sometimes you just have to go for it, and be ok to fail.

Weaknesses: 1) Don’t communicate when I’m behind in delivering, when workload has gotten to be too much. 2)  Ask for feedback from too many sources, don’t swiftly resolve conflicting ideas. With all of the changes happening I find myself asking for guidance/input much more frequently. I think it’s natural, as with restructuring roles have changed, and with an internal merger there are huge and frequent identity/branding questions. However I need to figure out a good approach to dealing with conflicting input, and and fine-tune and build confidence in my own discretion. Getting others too involved can really slow down a process–there’s a fine balance to be found with involvement and efficiency, and I need to find it!

If this internship continued another term, what would you do and what would you change.

If the internship continued, I would map out a plan with week to week deliverables. It was easy for me to put off projects that we originally identified, as other higher priority tasks eeked their way in. I would tend to do the things I knew I could quickly knock out, just to keep the list from growing! It was hard to balance what I am responsible for at work, with what I was hoping to get out of the internship.

Hours worked and tasks performed

2/22, 2 hrs
Put finishing touches on style sheet; web updates

2/23, 4 hrs
Draft mock-up of ad for Oregon Business magazine and prepare training announcement

2/24, 2 hrs
Finalize training announcement

2/26, 4 hrs
Begin work on one-pager for sponsorship packet and create mood board to inform rebranding and identity process

I got behind with my posts so am playing catch up…

Satisfaction
As I mentioned in earlier posts, the work has been pretty production heavy and I’ve learned a lot about the printing process. I wish there would have been more opportunities for actual design, but with a new identity on the way we are not changing things up too much right now. There are a lot of materials that need to be updated and streamlined, but again it doesn’t make sense to spend much time on them until the new identity is determined. I’m chomping at the bit to get things streamlined but overall I’m satisfied with the work and really excited for a fresh (and singular) look, feel, and identity.

Meaningful learning opportunities
I’ve been able to use a lot of the skills/techniques we’re learning in the publication design class. Using grids for layout has totally changed my approach to print materials, and I’ve had several opportunities to practice new-found tricks and efficiencies in InDesign.

Quality of the organization
With a newly formed marketing team and committee, and a decision made on the organization’s business model, there is now direction to follow (the past several months have been tenuous—lots of organizational options have been discussed, no clear path or identity to rally efforts around). Overall communication strategy and goals are more defined, and now there’s a framework that makes decision-making and work in general easier. Time and resources are always an issue, quality of product often suffers because of this.

Tasks performed and hours worked

2/15, 4 hrs
Format training templates and (there were seven eight total templates) and prepare training e-announcements

2/16 & 17, 4 hrs
Continue preparations for training announcements

2/18, 2 hrs
Finalize training announcement

2/19, 2 hrs
Begin revisions to tech one-pager and review style sheet with supervisor

Describe the relationship between what you are doing in this job and how you see your future in this field.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I want to continue working with the nonprofit sector, but would like to round out my experience with other types of work. Maybe I just want to see what’s on “the other side”. Like I mentioned in other posts the work I’m doing now is pretty production heavy and I’ve learned a lot. But with the norm being slim time and resources, there’s lots of limitations and not a ton of room for creative process. This comes as no surprise, I guess I just hadn’t thought about it. I do wonder what it would be like to work in a creative agency, where you are part of a creative team and regularly work on various or new projects. I am semi-concerned that in an in-house capacity, it’s more difficult to stay fresh and keep learning.

Tasks performed and hours worked

I logged fewer hours this week as I was out of town Thursday and Friday.

2 hours, 2/8

More work on style sheet

2 hours, 2/9

Add staff images to website
Create template for staff images on website

2 hours, 2/10

Reformat e-communication template for Executive Directors Network