The One Where They Say Goodbye

I truly enjoyed working at KCIC this summer; as I was wrapping up my internship, I was saddened to know that I wouldn’t ever return to KCIC unless I were to start working in a full-time position. As I approached the end of my internship, I only remembered the good things about working at KCIC, and forgot about many of the things I wished to accomplish but did not have the chance to. Since reviewing my written assignments in preparation for the internship, I’ve come to realize that it perhaps wasn’t at all like what I expected it to be. This, however, didn’t necessarily turn out to be a bad thing. To simplify things, I can separate my internship experience into parts that I feel were beneficial and parts that I feel were not beneficial.

Downfall

I’d like to begin my reflection by going over the parts that did not benefit me, or did not meet my expectations.

There were a number of expectations I listed in either my learning contract or personal contribution paper that were not met during my internship. To start, when I talked to my supervisor about the learning contract, I was told that I would receive an evaluation at the end of my internship. I was looking forward to seeing a written evaluation of my workmanship, and counting on that as a reference for my professional aptitudes. Not only did I not receive a written evaluation, but I did not receive any verbal commendations or constructive criticisms. This may seem like a small let down, but the lack of an evaluation makes a big impact on how I think about my overall experience. Without something to wrap up the internship, it almost feels like it never officially ended—like there’s a big hole in my experience—like I need some sort of closure.

The next expectation that was not met may not be KCIC’s fault, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. I had expected to run statistics tests like I had done in Econometrics. I expected to be conducting in-depth analyses and using all the skills I had acquired from class. I have been trying to think back to my internship and figure out if I did any sort of analysis that came anywhere close to what I was expecting. There were many instances where I had to investigate an issue and come up with a solution, but that didn’t require data analytics software to conduct tests or run different scenarios.

Trust me, I’m not totally heartbroken that I didn’t get to do this. However, I am still curious as to where I would use those statistic tests and data analytics tools if not at a consulting agency. I must admit, my idea of what consulting firms actually do on a daily basis is quite fuzzy. My understanding of this work is somewhat solidified since I now have some actual experience working with consultants. Nevertheless, the consulting world is constantly evolving. It seems as though all the most effective consulting firms use technology to do half the work, which is not at all what you’d think from practicing case interviews. This somewhat relieving yet disappointing discovery does give me a clearer picture of what consulting work contains.

Third, the term “cost-benefit analysis” has been thrown around all too often in a consulting context, so I don’t think it was unreasonable to expect to formally conduct this analysis. Now, I’m definitely not a consulting firm expert after one internship, but my guess is that these aren’t necessarily always very formal things. Technically a cost-benefit analysis could be as simple as making a pros and cons list, right? Regardless of that expectation, I expected to be doing more work to assess risks and potential solutions for clients. Instead, I was practically kept in the dark when it came to client interactions. While there aren’t always new clients coming in with new problems for KCIC to solve, there were still frequent client issues popping up that needed to be addressed. Instead of having a role in brainstorming solutions, I was only notified of the issue after it had been resolved. I understand why an intern isn’t the first person one goes to with a client concern, but it would have been a tremendous learning opportunity for me to, if nothing else, observe how specific issues were addressed.

Lastly, I was hoping to “decipher what an appropriate balance of in- and out-of-office encounters looked like” (Yen, “Learning Contract”, 2019). By this, I meant answering questions about conduct between coworkers. Is it normal to be friends with your coworkers? Do people who work together go out together? Is it appropriate to make weekend plans with other employees? Though this wouldn’t technically be a part of my internship, it has been something I’ve been wondering about for a long time. As the time to enter the “real world” approaches, I find myself asking these questions more and more. One of my fears about working in a new place is not having any family or friends by me. These questions, unfortunately, were not adequately answered during the 9 weeks of my internship. My internship did expose me to the happenings of after-work socials, however these just confused me more on proper etiquette in coworker/friend events, as well as blurred a line between what I considered a “work event” and a “social hangout”.

Benefits

It goes without saying that there were plenty of great things about my internship experience. Not only were many of my expectations met, but I was also presented with plenty additional opportunities for my benefit.

In my learning contract, I wrote that I wanted to understand what KCIC does and how they work. After the first couple weeks, I developed an intense understanding of the asbestos litigation field—an understanding deeper than I necessarily wanted. There were multiple trainings on the history of asbestos, the uses of the product, the risks around asbestos exposure, the significance of asbestos-based mesothelioma lawsuits, mass tort litigation, and more. Now, I can’t stop making connections between KCIC’s work and little everyday things. The world of asbestos lawsuits has become to relevant. I can confidently say that this goal was met, and I have a firm understanding of how KCIC works, what they do, and, perhaps most importantly, why they are in operation.

In addition to learning about the firm itself, I mentioned in my learning contract and personal contribution paper that I wanted to enhance my technological skills. This is a box that can definitely be checked off.

I used to be intimidated by Microsoft Excel, and dreaded using it when I needed it. Since my internship…I think Excel is my new best friend. I have to give some credit to the Internship Course for requiring me to watch an 8-hour Excel course, but most is due to using it on a daily basis at KCIC. My job was simplified and accelerated due to Excel’s utility.

I also gained experience using SQL management studio. I enjoyed using SQL because the coding was pretty easy to grasp, and I plan to continue my skills with SQL through Lynda or Code Academy. I’ve even started to think in terms of tables and databases. Ideas are constantly popping into my brain about how I can organize data into a table and connect everything in a huge database to organize information. I feel that learning to use SQL was one of the most useful parts of my internship, and I look forward to continuing my education around this tool.

I believe I greatly benefitted from this internship for a multitude of reasons. Some of my goals that were met were to expand my network, engage in problem-solving, develop a habit of waking up early and working a full day, and more. I strongly believe that part of the reason why I was able to immensely benefit from my internship experience is because KCIC is a small company. Perhaps I was given more attention and responsibility as an intern than I would at a larger firm. For this reason, I can already envision what is would be like to work at KCIC as a full-time consultant.

Leadership 

I constantly recognized how applicable Leadership Studies was in that office. On multiple occasions I observed various leadership styles as well as various strategies to implement effective leadership. I appreciated the CEO’s efforts to continuously improve his leadership skills by communicating with his employees as well as bringing in an executive coach for a “Lunch & Learn”. During my last week as an intern, I took the initiative to commend a consultant on an exceptional demonstration of leadership. I noticed his leadership capabilities as he transitioned into a leadership role on one particularly time-pressing project. I thought he did an excellent job of balancing time-management, task-orientation, and motivation among the team. It was fascinating to see leadership in action. This consultant not only emphasized the priorities of the team, but assisted each team member in completing their assignments by giving daily status check-ins, setting weekly and individual goals, being flexible in assignments based on working capacity, coordinating with other teams to ensure team members had less to do on other projects, and volunteering to assist anyone with their assignments. I believe this consultant’s display of leadership resonated with me because I would have taken on a very similar role as a team leader: a fully dedicated player who takes on the hard work to set up the rest of the team for success. Thanks to this internship, as well as the weekly reflections on leadership in the office, I’ve not only recognized my leadership style, but I’ve witnessed it being implemented in a real-world setting.

There were many things that I wanted to learn this summer. My experience as an intern at KCIC checked off a lot of those boxes, but not as many as I initially thought. Looking back at my personal plan paper, site description and personal contribution paper, and learning contract, I realized that there are aspects of my ideal internship that were missing. Nevertheless, I am grateful for the opportunity to work at such a unique company, and many areas exceeded expectations.