My internship at Venture Outdoors has consisted of sitting at a cubicle in the headquarter office, which I find kind of ironic. However, the office life hasn't been as drab as I expected it to be. My coworkers have been more than welcoming and are all really nice and interesting people!
Our office has a huge kitchen area, where I have had some good conversations with my coworkers as they heated up their lunches (most people just eat lunch at their desks because they're so busy). I quickly learned that this office knows how to eat. Most days, there is some sort of communal food set out on the table that is up for grabs...let's just say I've had my fair share of cupcakes, chips, and nachos.
The office is very social, yet the actual setup of the office is arranged by job area so most people only talk within their own groups (such as Operations or Programming or Kayak Pittsburgh). Being one of the two people in the Marketing division of Venture Outdoors, I work from a corner cubicle next to my boss. Yet, my cubicle is also far from the other interns, who all work in Programming. The set up of the office has made me feel slightly isolated, so it's really nice when people come over and stop by my desk to chat. It also makes folding hundreds of brochures a little more bearable!
In terms of workload, I've finally started getting into my projects for the summer. Venture Outdoors is about to launch a new website, so I've been rewriting website content to make it more exciting and updated. I was invited to sit in on a meeting with the website developers, and it was interesting to see how much work actually goes into creating a user-friendly experience. Along with working with the website, I have been assigned to marketing Tyke Hikes, which are educational hikes around the city parks created especially for kids under 5 years old. The past couple days I've spent a lot of time doing market research about preschools, daycares, mom groups, and mom blogs around the parks that Tyke Hikes are held in. This is done so we can target our customers correctly and effectively. Overall, I'm really excited to get more involved in actual marketing work for Venture Outdoors.
Isabelle,
ReplyDeleteThat's very ironic that you're at a cubicle while working for a company that's focused on outdoor activities! Interns often get stuck doing basic work (i.e. folding brochures for you and entering data for me), but that's good that you're finally getting involved in projects! The research market work you've been doing seems really cool and it'll be awesome to see the website when it's launched because you've helped with so much of the content. Hopefully you'll be able to interact more with your other coworkers (especially the interns) because it can be frustrating being isolated, especially when you seem to work in a place with such a fun work environment. Looking forward to reading more of your blog posts- best of luck!
Carly M.
Hi! Sounds like you're getting comfortable in your new work space! I think it's really interesting about how you noticed only certain groups converse with each other! That's really interesting. Hope you continue having a great time at your internship!
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting that although your office is very social you find that groups of certain people tend to talk to each other more. My office setting is rather small so I find that I'm talking to everyone on a daily basis. I've also done market research and research on certain blogs that connect with my target audience. Although I'm working at a PR company I definitely see a lot of crossover with the marketing side of the industry. I hope you continue to enjoy your internship!
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