Why I’m An Intern for Life

The older I get the more I realize my intuitive “lightbulb” moments as a youngster were worth paying attention to. This is one of them.

Achievement-oriented, eager, and scared shitless that I might not get a “good job” — I spent most of my summer breaks “interning”. At that time, my definition of that term meant an office job that tied directly to my degree in business marketing.

Despite these internships being taken on a “need to do” basis, I did actually enjoy them. In fact, I loved them.

Internships offered the best mix of all things I like.

New people. New environment. New rules. New challenge. Best of all — new insights to uncover about the world and my place in it.

Yet, despite my excitement for the internships, when it came time to transition from 6-week stint to the full-time job, I felt the energy get sucked right out of me.

GULP.

For me, a full-time job was not as appealing.

Internships were a fun 6-week trial. Any longer than that and my interest started to wane. I remember questioning if it meant something was seriously wrong with me. Was I crazy wanting something different every 6 weeks over a full-time job?

I wanted more immersions into something new with the opportunity to meet and learn from people that were “experts” at the job.

You see, in my internship programs, the interns always got unique access to top management. We had lunch n’ learns with executives running different company departments, social outings, and a single project or two that nicely wrapped up in 6 weeks.

I thrived in this type of environment. All of it just seemed to work for me.

Yet, when it came time to accept the full-time offers after thriving in internships — I felt very ho-hum about it.

To be clear, the logical, security-seeking part of me felt ecstatic. My ego loved it. It was validation that I was worthy, and my hard work during the internship had paid off.

But the gut feeling I can now easily tap into reminds me that I didn’t REALLY want what was on the other side of the internship.

What I really craved was another 6-week learning immersion about something completely different.

But that’s not how society is set up. That’s not what I earned a college degree for. It’s not how people make a living. It’s a step ladder. College leads to internships and internships lead to full-time jobs.

Thankfully over the last three years, I’ve figured out that consulting is a perfect way to get lots of exposure to new and different industries and people. Consulting pays the bills.

But internships are my Netflix.

Real experience with real people.

For me, that’s unrivaled entertainment, and the choices for what to learn and who to learn it from in this life are seemingly endless.

Today, I’m giving myself permission to have that bright-eyed intern feeling. The moment I said to a colleague at Hallmark, “I wish I could just be an intern for life”. Well, young 21-year old Dessa, older and wiser 34-year old Dessa is here to tell you, yes — you can.

Interns are eager learners. Interns assume nothing and ask everything. Interns learn by doing.

Interns are fuc*ing cool, and I want to be one again.

So I am.

There’s no end game to this internship. No achievement oriented carrot. My carrot is curiosity.

Today I’m wondering about Venture Capital — how it works and who makes it work. I also want to get my hands on some sushi rice and get rolling.

Can you help me with any of these internships? If you or someone you know is a VC or sushi maker, I’d love to get in touch with them.

With love,

Dessa — the mom, wife, and intern for life.