By Nickey Buzek

Internships are designed to be the segway between the school realm and the professional world. They help students take what they learned in the classroom and project it onto a position they worked hard to gain. If a company does it just right, the student will walk away with experiences they weren’t even looking for. I know I wasn’t looking for the opportunities that fell into my lap when I stumble onto an internship with a company called P1 Learning.

I had just given a speech at a networking event called PR Connect when a gentleman introduced himself to me as Speed Marriott. “Can I have a minute of your time,” he asked politely. I realized I must have stepped into a different dimension for someone to ask me for my time rather than the other way around.

Marriott told me that he was attending the networking event because he was a University of Central Missouri alumnus, and one of our professors asked him to make an appearance. He said he was the CEO of a Kansas-based eLearning company called P1 Learning. The brief description he gave was something to the effect of, “We create training videos for on-the-go professionals in the broadcast industry.” I had never heard of such a service.

He must have known what I was thinking, because he followed up with, “Do you have a resume on you? I can have our VP of Marketing and Sales tell you more and talk to you about an internship.” I didn’t just give the man my resume; I gave him my business card and the biggest “please hire me” smile too.

I came into the internship expecting there to be a set way of doing things as companies often have in place. But at P1 Learning, it’s often said, “It’s easier to be a smaller company with the ability to adjust quickly, rather than a larger company set in their ways.” This mentality was the driving force behind P1 Learning’s willingness to try new approaches and welcome new ideas. Both of these seemed to be two necessary components in a culture that invited successful public relations initiatives.

Other inviting factors could be seen in my department specifically. The VP of Marketing and Sales and the marketing representative were enthusiastic about each new task I worked on and were quick to praise exceptional work.

With a mentality that adjustments are always possible and teamwork makes everything easier, my 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. workdays were far from routine. One day, I would engage in scriptwriting. Another day, I would be filming. Some days, I would sit in on meeting after meeting, and other days I would stay in my office with Slack attached to my fingertips for communication. The variety and autonomy P1 Learning gave me eased the transition from college life to the professional world, but it was the unique times that made the professional world the best.

My “atypical” days were much different. They included out-of-office trips, broadcast station tours, and even hula hooping in the middle of the lunch area. Occasionally, I would have to remind myself that I really didn’t step into another world and that I got to work with people who embraced my love of variety and autonomy. All of these experiences came within a three-month time period and put me on the fast track to having a direction for my career.

Life after graduation can seem like a different dimension to college students. Transitioning from on-campus organizations to contributing to work that goes out on behalf of a company can be daunting. But internships, such as the one I experienced at P1 Learning, make students like myself better prepared for the diverse experiences that come with the professional world. They help us become more confident in taking that step into the different dimension we call the workforce.