In January 2022, I started my second internship at a cable business news channel. It is a field that I had no prior experience in. Having worked in retail, F&B, administration, aerospace sectors and majoring in history studies, it was my curiosity that led me to apply for a role beyond my expertise. After two long interviews over a phone call and google meeting, with minor mishaps with the internet connection, I managed to pass the interview and enter the company as a news editorial intern.
It was a refreshing and nerve-wrecking start for me to work in an office with different teams working on the live news. My past experiences in working with different people from different fields did not lessen the turmoils that I have to deal with in a new workspace. Amidst the other difficulties that I have to face, the lack of social interaction was the one that affected me the most.
The art of awkward socializing
When social distancing was of utmost importance to a company’s regulation, the placement of our seating arrangement was, to say the least, awkward. I was placed in another program’s team section due to the lack of seatings in my team’s area. Everyone had to sit 2 tables apart and the office was relatively sparse at the start of the year.
I had minimum interactions with my team members due to the hectic environment that we were in. Aside from the occasional coincidental meeting in the pantry area and awkward attempts to start a short lived conversation (because we had to rush back to work), I was mostly talking to my team members over Microsoft Teams chat. We did not have a team lunch together either due to COVID restrictions and worries of COVID transmission among the teams, because most of us had to work in the office due to the nature of our work.
My team members were a great support to me in general, onboarding me with patience and giving me plenty of opportunities to contribute to the team. But the lack of social interaction and personal connection with them still made it hard for me to integrate into the team. Fortunately, I had another intern companion from another team to talk to at the start (we were the only 2 interns on site while the rest worked from home). That gave me the strength to consistently reach out to my colleagues through Teams; by talking to them about work and topics outside of work, and to ask them out for a 1-1 lunch after work despite several failed attempts. I grew close to a few of them over time and knowing that I had someone to confide in and rely on made things a lot easier for me.
That is not to say that this is the only difficulty I had to deal with as an intern, because there were many; from my lack of knowledge of the field to the steep learning curve that they had and demanding fast pace that I had to adapt to, down to mortifying live mistakes that I’ve made.
But knowing that you have someone to go to to share your troubles and worries with makes a world’s difference to working in an unfamiliar space. While I may not be close to all of my team members, having a few people or even one person to talk to (such as the other intern) was enough for me.
It may be scary for some of us to reach out to another person first, and uncomfortable to experience rejection at times, but with time and effort, other people will open up to you. Your efforts will also allow you to differentiate people that you will get along with from the people that are best kept at a professional distance.
Most importantly, do not be too hard on yourself when things do not work out the way that you want it to. Just know that you are not alone in your troubles and that most of the interns that I’ve met have their own set of turmoils to deal with.