As the weeks progressed in my internship, my free hours in the office kept reducing. By the middle of third week, I experienced almost all the things a full-time employee does. I was nervous because of a deadline, I had multiple projects at hand, numerous people to answer to and I was perpetually tired. Work had become central to my life at that point. Majorly because there was barely any free time for me after work and travelling back home after each day (Mumbai, duh!).
One particularly interesting and stressful project for me was working on a brand and simultaneously coordinating with two departments other than my own. It was an extremely daunting project as I was not only answerable to my boss but also other senior members such as the vice president of the organization.
My anxiety reached a peak as I started to work nervously. After I was almost through, I still wasn’t entirely confident of its quality. I went to one of the seniors in my department to review my work. After a thorough check, she told me several mistakes that I had made and a few points that I had skipped. After her feedback, I got much more clarity on the task at hand, post which I submitted my work to all the seniors with much more confidence.
There are multiple lessons that I learnt from this small instance. Firstly, it is imperative to seek feedback on your work. Secondly, it is very important to have a mentor whom you can shadow and keep going back to for any doubts. And lastly, it always pays off to be more vocal and open about your thoughts, views and questions.
Sreya Bhattacharjee
(Batch 2020)
