The Wee Ones

During my freshman year at college, I can recall the start of my career plan. It all began with the internship program that my school offers called Washington Fellowship which entails of a semester interning in our nations capital, Washington, DC. I started planning my entire college career around this semester in Washington and it all worked out for the very best. I planned to finish school a semester early and to take part of this program my last semester of school - all in hopes to land a job immediately after completing school and beating the May rush of graduates searching for jobs. Graciously, everything fell in to place and worked out perfectly - I got an amazing internship with the Heritage Foundation and was able to experience DC in all its glory, meet amazing people from all over the country, networked like crazy, was part of an awesome organization, and intently received the job that I currently have.

Upon completing my semester with the internship program, I was one of a handful of interns in the program to immediately be offered a job following the program. Having been one of the few success stories from the program, I along with others, were invited to speak to the current class of interns with feedback of our experience and the typical yay's and nay's to how to make yourself stand out in your internship. I was excited for the opportunity to reach out to my fellow LU students and share my great journey and success with the program. However, I was somewhat disappointed in the group. Right upon entering and meeting with the intern coordinator, I was informed that this group of students was the most immature group the program has had. With their many complaints and poor attitudes, I could even see it in their faces upon entering the room. Myself and two other speakers who attended were informed of the situation and tried to really emphasize and highlight our experience in DC and through our internship and what a great opportunity it is for them to be here. Unfortunately, I feel that we only made it click with some of the students. I can relate and understand that things they were hearing may have seemed repetitive at this point, BUT you would think that we (the speakers) who are only a year or two older than them would strike a wow factor with them being so close in age and the success that we had from being in the same position as them - it could be them very shortly!

My overall impression from this group was that they don't realize that life isn't always going to be happy go lucky- where others are going to spoon feed you everything and look after you all the time. The one point I truly wanted to touch base on that I completely forgot to was this: Liberty (the school) is its own bubble. It's a great bubble to be in but that bubble doesn't expand with you when you venture out in to the working world after college is over. Liberty is a fantastic school in the south with kind, laid back and polite people, Christian atmosphere where majority of the people in the town share the same views as you, however, the real world is far different from that bubble. You're not always going to have these same people surrounding you each and everyday as the students do get accustomed to. I know I personally struggled with getting acclimated with moving back to my hometown and leaving the Liberty bubble that I was so comfortable with. These students need to buckle up and grow up and take the professional realm seriously or they're going to get chewed up and spit out.

Getting a job in this economy, we've been told is hard to find and very competitive- which it is! I don't think that these interns fully grasp the reality to that quite yet. I was very surprised with the group when time permitted for mingling after our speeches to the group. Don't ask me why, but I have always thought girls are more assertive than boys when it comes to these kinds of events, however, it was the complete opposite. The girls simply only heard us briefly discuss the importance of getting business cards.. so what do they do-- they ask each of us for our business cards and then left. They didn't listen to us at all with how to be professional and personable with others. The guys got it and for most part found their connection with us and strike up conversations, shared things with us and allowed for time to permit for a business card to be exchanged.

I'm really all frazzled by the groups efforts but do condone those who took the time to listen to us and follow up with us personally afterwards. I would love to continue to be invited and attend these events in the future, however, these little wee ones need a reality check and quick before they get a harsh reality kick in the butt.