Genesis

Last spring, when I was planning out this semester, I made a decision: I wouldn't do an internship. I had too much on deck: I knew I was going to be an ambassador in Marquette's Global Village program, the pledge educator for Sigma Chi Fraternity, the Vice President of Communications for the Interfraternity Council and the Online Editor for Marquette Student Media. Oh, and I'd be a full-time student. I just wouldn't have the time for an internship.

Fast forward to early October. The headless chicken busyness of September had died. Class was in full swing, Student Media was off its feet, fraternity recruitment was over and I was sitting pretty.

I got a Facebook message from Amanda, a friend of mine from my copywriting class last semester, asking if I was doing an internship this semester, because Laughlin/Constable downtown was looking for someone to come on for a few weeks and help out "with social media."

Sure, I was busy, but I know an omen when I see one. Before I knew it, I got an e-mail from Joyce O'Brien, the head of HR at Laughlin. Four short days later (after a curious weekend), I was sitting inside the Mitchell Building downtown, waiting to meet Joyce.

I was way overdressed.

But not over-prepared. It hit me then, when I was sitting there, that I ought to be nervous. I was looking for a job, after all. I suddenly wondered whether there'd be an interview, and I tried to think of some things that I might say. "Then again," I reasoned. "This is just a short-term thing. It's not so serious."

Joyce was great. Ebullient, she led me to her office, where we had a quick chat. She described the project to me in a little more depth, set me up with a cubicle and gave me a brief orientation, during which I met more people than I care to realize that I've already forgotten.

What I'd be doing, in short, was getting Laughlin/Constable's HR department online in the realms of social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—the usual suspects. Once everything was up and running, I'd plan the strategy and policy, and develop content with my teammates.

The next day, I facilitated a meeting with some of the other Social Rebels—the name of my team—during which we brainstormed myriad ways to use our social media outlets. I had already done some thinking of my own, and I was skeptical as to what more could be thought up. I was surprised and excited, though, to find myself with a giant list (quite literally—it was like 12 feet wide) of tactical social media ideas.

I spent the rest of the day organizing and prioritizing them.