Thought for the Month:
Bravery Creates Opportunities

Our Thought for the Month blog comes from guest contributor, Elisabeth, who is halfway through her internship with us.

At JPC, we pride ourselves on our bravery, to be able to stand up, be honest and realise your full potential; everyone in the team brings that to their work every day.

When I started my internship at JPC three weeks ago, I was very very nervous. I had no idea what content marketing, strategic branding or B2B was and when asking me to research any of these, they might as well have been speaking Vulcan. I was scared of disappointing the people that were handing me this great opportunity with my lack of knowledge. So, I tried to do everything myself; no questions asked. For any fellow intern, you will know that does not work.

However, through their amazing attitude (and constant reassurance), everyone made me realise pretty quickly that it is totally okay that I do not understand everything on my first day and that asking Abby twenty times if I am completing a task right is also completely acceptable. In fact, asking the “so what?” question is positively encouraged!

Bravery, however, is also about realising your full potential. Unlike most companies that take on a free-working intern, I was not subject to a 9-5 day of tea making and photocopying (thank goodness!). I was thrown right into the work of any other employee, with jobs such as researching potential clients, organising social networking accounts and now, blog writing. For a twenty-year-old film student with no experience working in an office, I did wonder if they were going to regret taking me on. But in the words of our lovely Client Services Director Claire, “it is not work experience unless you’re actually working”.

Three weeks later and now I can complete a task no questions asked (well maybe one or two…), I am used to using a fancy Mac computer and love absolutely everyone in the office. Starting work at a new job, let alone your first office job, is intimidating but with patience, confidence and a friendly, collaborative office, you’ll do just fine.