I hope everyone is learning a lot in your internship. Here is question #2. Please comment on this and feel free to respond to other’s comments as well.
What are some of the important things that you had to find out on your own–having to do with the company culture and/or things you wouldn’t normally think you have to ask for…finding the bathroom, finding where to get coffee in the morning, etc?
Since Accenture is such a large company, it was difficult at first to get in the grove of things and understand how everything works. There were several small instances where I had to figure things out by myself, but one of the ones that stuck out to me was PowerPoint expectations. In my orientation, we did a workshop covering PowerPoint, but to a small degree. Over the course of my internship, I realized that the slide set up and content expectation varies on who you are working on it with. There were times when I would prepare slides that impressed one group and needed changes from another. I began to understand the needs of each person I was working with and understood which slide “formula” to use for different people and different projects. Another instance was my work and progression over the summer. Accenture has the goal of returning their interns into full time employees. I had known that going into the summer and knew that I needed to put myself on top if I wanted to receive a job offer. Over the course of the summer, I had to take it upon myself to join extra curriculars and groups that would build my portfolio within Accenture. I had to figure these things out on my own by contacting people I have met in meetings or asking around to other employees. This was definitely a challenge at first but it greatly benefited me in the long run and pushed me out of my comfort zone. Not only did I learn more and get to engage in more work, but I saw a positive outcome with a job offer at the end of the summer! These two instances weren’t things that I could ask for but things that I needed to figure out on my own by immersing myself in the company culture and community.
Since my internship was predominantly remote, a lot of the discoveries I needed to dig for were technological. For starters, I needed access to an array of systems, including my company email, Microsoft Teams, Ignite (LMS), Tableau, etc. I didn’t know how to access them let alone which ones I needed access to. I had to connect to multiple people from multiple departments to gain full access. It was intimidating but I ended up making many great connections this way!
I did the have the opportunity to go in-person once a week since the office is located in Center City. Throughout my visits, I learned that the company culture was very laid-back. The Risk Management Association is considered a mid-sized company, with most of its employees working remotely. This allowed for a more casual dress code, friendly banter, and a relaxed environment for those who went in-office. We also enjoyed free lunch on Wednesdays, and I found out that this was all self-directed. Similar to the freedom students have to go to the bathroom during class, I didn’t need formal permission to enjoy lunch. Discovering these intricacies and nuances on my own forced me to be more independent, a characteristic that will become extremely useful in my future job endeavors.
Some of the important things I had to discover on my own, particularly related to company culture in a remote setting, didn’t involve physical spaces like locating bathrooms or coffee machines but rather adapting to the nuances of a virtual workplace. For instance, building a routine to stay productive without the structure of a physical office was crucial. I learned to create a dedicated workspace at home to help mentally separate my work from personal life, mimicking the separation an office environment naturally provides.
Additionally, being the only minority in my team, I had to navigate the cultural dynamics and communication styles of a diverse team. This meant finding ways to ensure clear and effective communication despite potential language barriers and learning to read between the lines in written communications, where tone and intent are not always clear.
Establishing trust and rapport without face-to-face interactions required extra effort. I initiated virtual coffee meetings and informal check-ins to foster team cohesion. Mastering digital tools and platforms for remote collaboration was another area where self-learning played a big role, as was finding ways to combat isolation, such as participating in virtual professional groups and online networking events.
These aspects of remote company culture and team dynamics were things I hadn’t anticipated needing to learn about, unlike more tangible, office-based queries like finding amenities. They represented a significant shift in how I approached my work and required a proactive, self-directed effort to adapt and thrive in a remote work environment.
When I first started, it was a smaller company with employees where everyone knew everyone. So, being the new person and the youngest employee was definitely an adjustment. Understanding the company’s culture and how the employee’s interacted with each other was important in order to adapt and blend with the company.
Now that I work part-time, its a completely different dynamic. I feel like there is a lot more “catching up” I have to do in order to make sure I’m kept in the loop. Its really easy to get super focused on only working, but I’ve realized the socialization aspect of the job is just as important. In the mornings on my way to grabbing coffee, I always stop by my coworkers’ cubicles/offices just to say hi and chat. Its a simple gesture, but it makes me feel like I’m more involved with the company on the days that I’m in the office.
Another new adjustment has been working out of two buildings instead of one. Last summer, I only worked in the main manufacturing building, but as the company grew and I returned the following summer, they acquired a second office building. One thing I didn’t anticipate was the amount of extra planning/thinking I would have to do. In manufacturing things are never predictable so if I was working in the office building and then I needed to do something in the other building I would have to quickly walk over to the main building. It forced me to plan out my day and almost break it up into blocks where I would spend between each building.