The biggest challenge for me at the beginning of the summer was figuring out how to get everything I wanted to say into a meager 140 characters.  Talk about difficult.  I have since gotten much better at it (and I pride myself in that, thank you).

The encapsulation of everything I learned this summer would make this blog post infinitely longer than it needed to be.  That said, I chose the five most important things I gathered throughout my time at the Atomic office and created this handy dandy list for all future interns.

1)      Don’t be afraid to ask questions:

I know — this is totally cliché.  Everyone says it.  However, it totally applies.  In my two months of working at Atomic, I am pretty sure that I wore out Ashley (@AECarter) and Tiffany (@tleighmichaelis) with the sheer number of questions I had for them.  But this is a learning experience for you.  What’s the point of taking an internship if you’re too scared to ask questions and learn?

2)      Learn how to smile via telephone:

It doesn’t matter how tired you are or how bad your day was.  When someone calls, you’re the one that they hear.  You are the face of the company – even if they can’t see your face.  If you smile when you’re talking to clients, they can hear it in your voice and tone.  Nine times out of ten, it brightens their day without fail.

3)      There is always more work to be done:

This somewhat goes hand in hand with the first tip.  If you run out of work to do, ask for more.  There is always more that can be done.  Don’t be afraid to ask for more work because the boss-ladies will be ecstatic that you can handle more.

4)      Dress appropriate for your position:

If the rest of the office dresses casually, don’t overdress.  I don’t recommend showing up in a dress and heels every day.  You will stick out like a sore thumb.

5)      The bosses want to hear your feedback:

Don’t be afraid to tell the bosses your thoughts.  Mind you, keep them G rated.  (Don’t go on a cursing spree.  Won’t do you any good.  Well…it might make you feel better, short term.)  If you feel like you find yourself asking for more work often, ask them in person for more work in the future.  If you feel that they aren’t giving you enough instruction, ask them for it.  Without two-way communication (what this job is all about), you might as well be working for yourself from home.

I went into this internship to get experience in the real world.  Sure, I came out with knowledge on how to reach out to people through clients via twitter and facebook…but I also gathered the real-world experience that can’t be taught in a college classroom.

I learned how I interact with people older than me.  I learned how to talk to people other than my professors.  While the knowledge was great, what I came out of this internship with was experience, and that is worth more than anything I could have paid for at UTA.

Want the same experience I had?  No worries, Atomic has you covered.  Since I’m leaving to go overseas for five months, the company is looking for new blood!  Atomic is hiring a social media/SEO intern for the fall! Recent grads and college student are welcome to apply.  Click here for more information.