Decisions, Decisions

This week’s schedule was full of meetings! There was a meeting with Lafayette Printing early in the week, and interviews for next semester’s interns later in the week, and I put in eleven hours of work total. On Tuesday, Lisa and I met with a sales rep from Lafayette Printing to see what kind of banner options they had and get a price estimate. Apparently, the other departments in the College of Liberal Arts had ordered their glossy plastic banners from Lafayette Printing, but they are heavier and more easily damaged than the matte fabric Skyline banners. Which printer will we use? The decision is up to me… I have a lot of thinking to do! I did have a little difficulty keeping the ball rolling in the meeting. Lisa wanted me to take the lead, for the experience, but I soon found out that the sales rep would have to refer me to one of their art production people to answer most of the questions I wanted to ask. He couldn’t tell me about things like the required image resolution or Pantone colors, only about the products and their prices, and since that all seemed to be laid out in the brochure he gave us, I ran out of questions very quickly. It was a little awkward because I had no idea how these meetings usually went, but I certainly do now!

Lisa, Kate, Kathy and I interviewed prospective interns for next semester on Thursday and Friday. We all took turns asking questions. It was truly enlightening to be a part of the interview process and get to see what happens on the other side and what about each candidate really stands out as positive or negative. I also got to be a part of the decision-making process, and choosing between the applicants was hard in some cases, but in others the choice was clear. I think this will really help me interview better in the future.

Lisa has been really great about helping me develop professionally and get experience with different things. Instead of just ordering me around, she and Kate have been actively looking for ways for me to gain experience in different areas through this internship.