The Intern Journal : How It Starts

3rd weekend being home after internship yeay!

Sadly, I came back with a whole new spirit but still happened to be the latest person to arrived in some classes. Surely have to work on that thing!

Di beberapa post sebelumnya, aku bilang bakalan nulis tentang internship thing. So this post will be about how I get there. #longpostalert

Aku termasuk anak yang picky, well I am sure my friends are, too. Ketika mulai memilih dan apply for internship, banyak banget pertimbangan yang dipikirin. Setiap hari sejak akhir semester lima, yang diomongin nggak jauh-jauh dari 'mau magang jadi apa' dan 'pengen magang di mana'. Setiap bulan nya, at least I applied to more 3-4 different companies. Sometimes I got a reply, most of times I didn't get any.

Ada satu tempat di mana aku  pengen magang, dan setiap bulan nya, aku selalu kirim lamaran dan resume dengan template yang sama, ke Gogirl! Magazine. There are many reasons why I want to have an internship there, kayak aku pengen tau gimana sebenernya creative industry operates,but one thing for sure is I am one of a tribe, I've been inspired by this magazine. What I meant by inspired is not that I make it my bible, or being fanatic, I really am open for other source too. Tapi aku ngerasa konten dari majalah ini relate banget sama aku, the thing that I get is that 'sense of belonging', padahal aku 'cuma' reader aja. And knowing there's an opportunity to spend a few months there just make me keep going. I want to a part of that source-of-inspirations too. But after I applied and applied, still I never got a reply.

Aku mulai baca-baca artikel tentang kenapa lamaran kita kadang nggak dibalas sama bagian HR di perusahaan-perusahaan. Ada banyak banget kemungkinan, kayak banyaknya applicant yang bikin email kita nggak terbaca, atau posisi yang kita pengenin udah banyak banget dilamar sama orang lain. At some point, aku akhirnya ngerasa "Maybe I wasn't belong there". So I stop sending email to Gogirl! Magazine.

And there I was, giving up on the thing I really wanted. The pressure is actually came in again when eventually most of my friends have settled on their internship thing. Degdegan dong, udah semakin akhir semester 6 dan belum juga dapat tempat magang yang pasti. I actually have an interview call from another place but at some points the acceptance got cancelled for they considering to not take an intern at that time. See? Banyak banget kemungkinan yang bisa terjadi di tengah jalan.

Sampai akhirnya ada satu waktu, dipertengahan bulan Juni, Mba Nina Moran, CEO Gogirl! Magazine, post a picture on instagram, saying Gogirl! is open a lot of opportunities open for several positions. Kebetulan dua posisi yang aku pengen, disebutkan juga, Copywriter & Reporter. I left a comment there, asking if those positions are available for interns. She said, "buat intern yang butuh banyak itu copywriter & desain grafis. untuk posisi lain dicoba aja kali ya.", that is enough to recharge me.

The next morning, I applied again. I don't know what drives me tapi akhirnya aku nggak pake lagi template lamaran kayak yang sebelumnya. Instead, I tell about myself a lot more, just like sending a letter to a friend. And later on that day, I got a reply telling that Gogirl! will call for an interview the next day. Aku inget, saat itu lagi take video wawancara narasumber untuk keperluan tugas film dokumenter. Kesenengan banget bacanya sampai temen-temen ikut kegirangan juga. Padahal baru dikabarin kalo bakalan di interview aja.

The story doesn't stop there, ternyata ada beberapa step tes yang harus dilaluin buat bisa internship di Gogirl!. The time is running, makin jiper ngeliat temen-temen ngelakuin preparation buat magang, makin jiper karena waktu nunggu test result adalah libur lebaran yang lumayan lama. Then here comes the higher tides, people surround me starts to tell me to turn around. It's a not safe beach for swim, they say. Sempet mikir, "should I have back ups?", beberapa temen constantly checking on me if I already got an internship place. Kepikiran banget sama omongan-omongan yang nyemangatin sekaligus kasih saran buat apply ke tempat lain aja, and yes I did it too, apply ke tempat lain lagi. Simply to feel safer.

In my parents sight, I am way too idealist. But I think who else will believe me if it's not myself? Long story short, I finally got an internship position as a Copywriter at Gogirl! Magazine. The feeling when I came to the office for the first time; nervous yet proud.

My lunch buddies, bunch of Gogirl! interns.
Thing that I saw in each of these girls is they really good at what they're doing.
Kenapa sih mereka bisa 'that good'? The key is there, they're loving what they do.

Buat anak-anak jurusan Advertising, saat-saat paling nyeremin adalah pitching ke klien. Suatu hari aku diminta buat assist Marketing Team untuk present ide ke klien. Feel lucky karena bisa liat prosesnya langsung, tapi degdegan kalo tiba-tiba diminta present ide dan jadi gagu. Dan hari itu, aku pergi ke tempat klien barengan sama Mba Nina. She prepared the materials well to be presented in front of our clients; making the mock ups. checking the presentations. Kebetulan tempat meeting kedua lumayan jauh, di jalan, aku tanya-tanya tentang working in a print media, ke Mba Nina. Apparently she said, "susah kan, masuk Gogirl!?", and the stories flows. And the thing she said that needs to be underlined is, "To keep up with this kinda industry life, kita harus siap buat terus adjust. Sekarang kita dituntut buat doing nearly anything, bisa ini, bisa itu. If you don't the persistency, yaudah, segitu aja. Dan satu lagi, yang paling penting, kamu harus suka sama apa yang kamu kerjain. Kalo engga, ya ngga ada yang drive you to stay."

Aku inget, salah satu Editor's Letter di Gogirl! edisi ulang tahun yang ke 10, Mba Anita Moran nulis kalo proses adalah her greatest lesson for life. She adds, "To get to one place, you have to get through the road. Semakin jauh, semakin melelahkan, tapi semakin 'nggak biasa' pemandangan yang akan kita lihat nantinya. And on your journey, just remember to persist longer and stronger." And I am keeping that in mind. You can achieve anything you want for life if you have that persistence shield in yourself. And sometimes I thought kalo ungkapan "do what you love" itu buat nyemangatin diri kita aja. But no, love did gave you that spirit to keep going. I think that's the reason why I keep applying, why I believe in myself, because that magazine have been with me since then, because the writings, the designs, have shaped me to become who I am today. Like, Gogirl! already taught me that kind of things even before I became an intern there. It starts from the love, kesukaan ku sama majalah ini.

And I think this is no more a blog post, but a letter, to Gogirl! Crew.

Some of Gogirl! Crew yang dipaksa-paksa foto bersama :p

Feel lucky to swim in that kinda sea.

xx,

Avi.