MEMOIRS OF AN INNOCENT INTERN: Part I

PLEASE NOTE THE SUBJECT OF THIS SERIES IS NOT MY CURRENT BOSS, DAN COFALL. DAN COFALL IS THE ANTITHESIS OF THE BOSS I HAD IN “MEMOIRS OF AN INTERN.”

This past summer, I packed my stuff and moved to another city to work an internship for an investment management company. I lived in a bankrupt Extended Stay Hotel, worked long hours and tried my best to do what I was asked. My boss and I agreed on a weekly wage.

After the second week of work, I developed bags under my eyes and was losing hair on my head. My main task was to get my boss and his partner’s clients national publicity. They wanted to be on channels like Discovery, FOX, Bloomberg and Howard Stern. Clients varied, from a plastic surgeon to financial expert. They gave me a phone and asked me to make things happen.

“HR in most investment firms is simply a transactional function,” said Peter Cappelli, Director of the Center for Human Resources at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Get people in and get them out without breaking the law. They don’t do organizational development, training or job design.”

No proper training was provided. I had no problem with that, because I am entrepreneurial, but PR IS BRUTAL! The industry is all about whom you know. Forget about press releases, email marketing campaigns, CRM software and phone pitches. You need to have an in, and I didn’t have anything. I called mentors, Syracuse alumni, anyone and everyone, and I had nothing to show.

After the second week, two of the partners came into my office and said they were disappointed with how much time they spent teaching me the business. I told them from the start I was a 20-year-old intern. PR is brand new to me. It’s going to take some time.

The pressure built up. I wasn’t getting any responses from any producers or journalists. I became desperate. I was at the point I was going to beg people for things.

So I quit. My supervisors hoped I could take their clients national. I told them not to depend on me. They should rather dole out six grand a month for a PR firm and see the results. At the end, I didn’t want to waste their time, energy and money.

If there’s one thing I can take away from this, it’s make sure you love what you do. The worst feeling in the world is to wake up every morning and dread going to work.

The PR profession is tough stuff. If you don’t know anybody and don’t have the proper training or software to aid your work, you’re going to find yourself going nowhere.

It sucks, but I did what was best for everyone. I could have finished my term there, gotten no results and collected an extra stash of cash. Nevertheless, I felt that wasn’t even worth it.

But that’s not why I’m sharing this story. My internship really started after I quit. Up until that point, I did not get a single payment from my boss. Whether I lived up to expectations or not, I was owed money for showing up every morning and trying my best to produce results. I was supposed to get a check in my mail after returning home. After weeks of reminding my boss, it never came.

Next edition, I’ll discuss how I received the money I was owed.

Believe me – it was much more brutal than losing half a head of hair.

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Naresh Vissa — Taking Syracuse University by storm, Naresh is a third-year Renée Crown University Honors Program student, majoring in Finance, Accounting and Broadcast Journalism at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Previously a writer for the ?Daily Orange? newspaper and Executive Board member of the South Asian Students Association, he is a Junior Analyst for the Orange Value Fund (OVF). Known as "the Ivy League within the Whitman School," OVF students take MBA-level finance classes, learn the ins and outs of value investing philosophies, and help research, report and manage more than 1.1 million dollars of investor money. As producer, Naresh books guests everyday and seeks media and business development opportunities to increase branding and overall listenership. With more than a year?s worth of experience producing more than five business shows at the BizRadio Network and CNN Radio, Naresh has booked more than 400 guests in the fields of finance, economics, business management & consulting, self-help, leadership, sales and marketing. He serves as a member of the Foundation for Economic Education.