Week 2: Daily News Clips

Since this is an unpaid internship, my supervisors stressed that the nature of it is about me learning more about the industry and gaining useful experience in multiple roles. My title is “Marketing and Communications Intern,” which includes broad terms that can cover things like sending out all NWRA emails to providing content for our social media sites. So, Spencer and Kelsey (my immediate supervisors) stressed that I ask fellow employees from all roles about their job descriptions to gauge where my specialty lies.

My daily responsibility is sending out what we call “Daily News Clips.” This means that I search the internet for recent news on the waste and recycling industry, create a professional email with the links of the industry news and updated information on NWRA events, and send it out to all members. We have thousands of members, so formatting, editing, and proofreading the email is essential (that’s where my English major skills come in handy). This process takes a good 2-3 hours, so it covers my morning duties. I also am expected to provide content for the social media sites. Since our big event is coming up, WasteExpo, Kelsey had me draft samples of tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIn posts, and Daily News Clips blurbs about our 4 of our booth events at WasteExpo. Once the craziness of WasteExpo dies down, I will be given long-term projects to work on. I also let my colleagues know that I enjoying proofing/editing any material, and was handed survey emails this week to help re-word the language so more people would respond and fill out the survey.

My main expectation is to expand my knowledge of the waste and recycling industry, and learn more about the inner-workings of the NWRA. By asking my colleagues of all roles (such as Communications, Safety, Policy, etc) questions about what their job entails, as well as helping them with a variety of projects, I can figure out what jobs I like best and form my specialty. Since this is a new workplace for me, I also expect to increase my network and make connections through the NWRA and DC Wake Alum. (DC connects helped me towards my networking goal — thanks for all who helped put it on!)

One highlight of my week was DC connects. I met so many interesting alumni who truly wanted to help me, and were open to all questions. My work-highlight happened today, when I went through all the stages of the Daily News Clips myself successfully.

I have my own desk and office, pictured here. Although imagine it now with a pot of violets; I bought them at Trader Joe’s to brighten up my space.