Internships are a wonderful thing. I was incredibly lucky when I was in college/grad school to get summer internships at Corning Glass Works, du Pont and Shell – three great companies. No more jobs in retail! I graduated to what I always thought of as Real World "practice jobs". My first summer, my boss resigned just a short time after I joined the company. He had gotten me started on my project – an experiment to test coatings on optical wave fibers -- and they gave me a substitute boss who didn’t seem to understand the project super-well, so I was fairly self-managed. My second two summers were lab jobs – doing liquid chromatography. I learned a lot about chemistry there. The third internship I was providing industrial hygiene services to the offshore oil industry. I had a lot of fun at that one, but also learned about workplace sexual harassment – a label that I could only assign after I got older and the world changed. Fortunately, a summer is short and I had good wits.
Each of these jobs introduced me to different company cultures and different kinds of leaders. I have to say, all of the experiences were great. Those were good summers – especially the one in New Orleans! They gave me valuable experience for the real Real World. Both du Pont and Shell taught me a lot about workplace safety before there was even a glint in my eye about being a safety/IH professional. I think those experiences planted a seed.
We have had about six interns or co-ops in my department this summer. All have been pretty impressive – so eager to learn, so enthusiastic about the work. We make them give an exit-presentation of their summer’s work and they all did a great job (ignoring their need to make every statement sound like a question). I know we will miss these energetic people.
Each of these jobs introduced me to different company cultures and different kinds of leaders. I have to say, all of the experiences were great. Those were good summers – especially the one in New Orleans! They gave me valuable experience for the real Real World. Both du Pont and Shell taught me a lot about workplace safety before there was even a glint in my eye about being a safety/IH professional. I think those experiences planted a seed.
We have had about six interns or co-ops in my department this summer. All have been pretty impressive – so eager to learn, so enthusiastic about the work. We make them give an exit-presentation of their summer’s work and they all did a great job (ignoring their need to make every statement sound like a question). I know we will miss these energetic people.