A summer internship is a great way to learn how people at the company ‘pretend’ to work.
Well, I came with that notion to Olio Creative Agency. They’re into advertising, technology and digital marketing. “I’d atleast learn half of any one of the domains in these two months of internship”, I thought. First day that I got in the office, all I noticed was beautiful wall murals of cartoon caricatures of people working in the office.
First day, the founder of the company walked in and said, “We think. Therefore, we are.” That is when I realized these two months are going to be worth all the effort and time. 5 minutes into the conversation, he stopped us from calling sir. And by the end of our induction, I was jealous of the full-time employees. Why? Because they had the freedom to blare loud music and work on their systems.
Probably, that is the reason why I have been half an hour early everyday over the last 2 weeks. I can’t stop looking forward to going to the office and working on either an exciting project or making a creative effort in making a great copy for a real estate giant in their campaigns. Or for thinking about doodle ideas and implementing them. Or for that matter, writing a blog on any random topic. The last 2 weeks have flown away not because I got to work on the creative strategy of a corporate video, but also because of an unplanned overnight trip to a nearby hill station.
Key things that I have learnt in Olio : –
Don’t be perfect. Be awesome instead : I realized that it is not necessary to come up with that perfect tagline or to click the best picture. These things do not matter. What matters is how awesome you are at what you do. You’re good at writing? How about a blog post of your choice. You’re good at designing? How about you design the interiors of a brand-new office. Yep! You have the freedom to do anything and everything as long as it’s amazing and awesome.
Transparent team meetings : Normally, interns are not even known by their names in their organization. But here, a team meeting scheduled at 10 will not start at 10 if even a single intern is missing. Interns are involved in every project in detail and introduced to every process in the project. They can get involved and also give their opinions on things. It isn’t just about learning. It is about exploring.
“I am not a boss” culture : The other day, I read an article on LinkedIn and how the writer of the post kept mentioning sir and madam even in the post. Well, if I were to do that here or call somebody boss, I get a death stare. They hate it. They hate being called a boss. So much so that they don’t have a cabin. They sit with us. With blaring music. And an impromptu dance session.
Client Meetings : The meeting with a prospective client is perhaps the most important part of getting a business. But, when your founder walks into the room and introduces you and asks you to lead, it does wonders to your confidence. What more, no negative marks for a mistake. As they say, ‘You never lose, you only learn’.
We don’t just write, we design : Well, 4 weeks into the internship and I can actually think about an infographic and it will only be cool if I show it to you as seen above
