Category: Internship Blog

Etiquette in Remote Work

A good etiquette is key to having a pleasant and comfortable work environment. Etiquette in a sense relates to good manners and polite respectful behavior. Without good etiquette the work space will lack harmony, one should keep good etiquette to ensure a happy and productive work environment. Bad etiquette on work does not only affect co-workers, but can also affect supervisors as well as clients. Keeping your phone on silent during meetings and calling out sick when you are sick to help protect your fellow employees all counts as good etiquette. Working remotely, employees tend to get comfortable at times in their own space, but one has to always be mindful that you are a working professional. Sometimes you have to dress the part to play the part, so jump out of those pajamas and suit up! Furthermore, during virtual office calls private chats should not be occurring; this can be seen as being rude and unprofessional.

Photo Credits: https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/06/office-etiquette.html

Software produced Translation: https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com/en/translationform

Software produced Audio: https://ally.ac/covid19/

My experience on internship working with the non profit organization has been a really interesting one. My role as a Digital Design Associate allowed me to experience what the day to day life would be like in certain aspects of the field which I intend to specialize in. My role entailed redesigning their logo and website pages as well as updating templates for their social platforms and magazine spread designs. I also appreciated practicing many soft skills and people skills as we tend to forget that they are also just as important as design ones.

I loved working with my team and it pushed me out of my comfort zone to communicate well, to be organized and time manage for projects given. Working remotely already comes with its set of unique challenges so I learned how to adjust. Their company culture allowed me to feel like I was working on a greater purpose for those families and individuals who need that help.

At the non profit organization I worked closely with my supervisor who has made this journey a pleasure for me. Formally, my supervisor’s role entails that of a strategic engagement director and I can say for sure that my supervisor possesses many skills that I would like to practice in my career. In the efforts to create  key strategies that aim to promote the brand of the company, my supervisor communicated effectively by being clear and concise about tasks and expectations.

I appreciate that management style, this gave me enough creative authority to align the supervisor’s goals for engagement with my design principles. Lastly, my supervisor demonstrated good etiquette via email and ability to remain professional in all circumstances. This is really helpful in a way that it sets me up for the type of skills I need to develop. I am very grateful for the direction and guidance on how to navigate growth in my role as well.

Although my internship is remote and a lot of my works have been done mostly in my office space at home. My internship was based on efficient teamwork. After bring presented with new tasks by my supervisor, I was given creative authority over my tasks along with deadlines dates for thus assignments. There were many instances that stood out to me that embodied efficient teamwork, not only with the boss but with my fellow employees. Some of those efficient teamwork skills include informative feedback, for example spelling checks.

Our small team often discussed the main goals behind initiatives and how our roles would play out. For instance redesigning the logo for breast cancer awareness was one of my favorite projects. We needed to increase awareness for the healthcare cause as well as have our audience connect with our new branding identity in a stronger sense. As a team, the content writer created copy that was informative and relatable, while I was responsible for redesigning the company’s logo for the month.

Thus far, I have been tasked with several design related projects, as well as social media strategic posts. Some of the assignments were new to me so I met with my supervisor on a few occasions for extra information. As with most design projects, I had to do research on the topics being covered in my creative works to ensure it was appropriate within its culture. I would also add learning about new cultures was a fun experience for me. With all of my projects I had to demonstrate good responsible skills,  good communication skills, being punctual and also engage in proper networking skills in a professional way.

Some of my tasks involved:

• Designing instagram stories posts for the organization
• Re-designing the brand logo for breast cancer awareness month
• Creating a “Get Well Card” for fellow employee
• Creative a design for the company’s tote bag

These are instagram social media stories design for a cultural holiday.

My roles and responsibilities were straight forward. On a macro level, they included fulfilling tasks set out by my director, attending meetings and keeping in liaison with coworkers for projects. I was required to create strategic social media post and aid in generating design ideas for social media visual posts (flyers, instagram stories, etc), as well as contributing to the re-designing on the company’s logo for breast cancer awareness month for social media platforms like instagram and facebook, twitter etc.

Within the company we used the Rock app and company emailing domain to manage projects and so I often had to check in with my associates on my progress and feedback. As much as this role was creative I had to undergo a lot of research and creative strategies to ensure the artwork created is appropriately marketed to our key audience.

My composure on internship have been positive and tremendous. I made a great effort at being proactive at networking within the team. With my immediate team it was much easier. I made solid friendships and camaraderie with two of my associates. We would discuss assignments and worked on projects together which made it easier to share experience and goals thus far.

Though I might not have worked closely with members of the greater team in my day to day, I set up virtual coffee chats with other senior members of the marketing department to ask them questions on specific tasks as well as seek knowledge on their experience working in their respective fields. Some of these roles provided me with insights on skills that could be transferable or useful in my future. After having these meetings, I would add them on linkedin and send follow thank you emails to say thank you.

The non profit organization was founded in 2016. Their goal is to empower and integrate communities and other immigrants to civic and economic life. The organization makes it their mission to aid individuals and families when coming to advocating for social justice, education opportunities and healthcare access for all, among other civic engagement activities. Helping build economic stability and sustainable communities for people living below the poverty line is something that they pride themselves on. The organization understands the value of life and how precious it is, no one should be living a life of injustice and inhumane conditions. 

Working at the non profit, I have to say it is great to work there! Besides knowing you are doing work to help the betterment of the community, the teamwork and work environment itself is very friendly and pleasant. At this moment, post covid, everyone understands that in remote work communications plays a big role in successfully getting the task done. I myself,  correspond with my supervisors and coworkers daily, whether it be about setting up meetings or new digital assignments that are assigned to me.

As virtual is the new norm, my interview was done over a zoom call with the founder of the  organization . To prepare, I did thorough research on their company, company culture and their key audience. I also always prepare myself with questions to ask the interviewer in order to create strong conversation and find out more. I dressed professionally and ensured that my background was clear. The interview took an informal style but I was asked about  my education, sample projects to showcase as he looked through my portfolio and resume.

We also spoke about design and  what I wanted to achieve from this experience to note a few. At the time, I gave it my best and I soon after received notice that I could start later on that week. I was asked to send a cover letter, a biography  and photo of myself and a new email. As a follow up to all of this I sent over an email to say thank you for the opportunity.

Searching for an internship can be tough, and I can attest to that. My journey to finding an internship started over the summer vacation. I applied to two companies on Linkedin but did not hear back from anyone. As the summer was coming to an end and the semester started I was not able to obtain an internship. I was worried that this was going to affect my course and that my resume was not good enough. On the first day of class the professor asked who was having troubles finding an internship position and I expressed my troubles with her.

Due to my interest in video communication she recommended that I send my resume to the visual arts department in CityTech because they have an incredibly productive team and she believed this would be a perfect fit for me. Unfortunately for me, our time schedule did not align and I was yet again in search for an internship position.

As I continue my search, I did a job interview with the founder of a non profit organization. They was founded in 2016. The interview went well and I was actually hoping to hear back from them. They are an organization that focuses on working with individuals of all originals to help build an economic stable and sustainable community for those living below the poverty line. I thought that was really great, and that we need more organizations like them in my community. Four days later I cannot express how happy I was to get the call welcoming me into the company.