What I Learned From Our High School Intern
Posted on April 20, 2006 by Her and tagged employment
This year my office hired a high school intern as part of a program to expose inner-city youth to professional careers. He’s an uber-talented kid with a lot of confidence and perfect grades. He just got accepted to three Ivy League schools. Here's how:
The top guy in my office is a mega honcho. He's been featured numerous times in big magazines, has books written about him, and is world famous. When our intern was applying to colleges, he walked right into Head Honcho's office, sat down, showed him his work, and asked him for a recommendation. AND HE GOT IT. In my field, that's like applying for college with a letter of recommendation from Jesus.
In comparison, I have two Master's degrees, have worked at my firm for almost two years, and have never even said hello to Head Honcho. Life lesson learned, now it's time to make myself visible to upper management. Thanks for the education, intern.
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Man, that takes some nerve - to just walk into the big boss's office (without an appointment maybe?) and to ask for a letter. But I guess the kid has nothing to lose, he's only working there for a limited period of time. I'm scared of asking my professors for letters! This kid inspires me. Maybe the boss also respected the kid's guts and remembered the days when he was trying to get good connections.
jim | Apr 21, 2006
That also says a lot about the Head Honcho too, good to see that he really bought into the program to expose inner-city youth to professional careers. Sometimes the ability to help someone, especially someone who is very capable, achieve their goals is more rewarding than all the books, tv appearances, and praise.
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