The Worst They Can Say is No | A Q&A With Former DC Intern Rachel Flannery

April 30th marked the last day of National Internship Awareness Month; a day where interns can reflect on the short, but hopefully sweet time they’ve spent at their company. Interning is more than dipping a toe into the water of the working world; it’s a right of passage and a means to full-time employment. One report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) concluded that 66.4 percent of 2019 graduates who worked a paid internship ended up receiving a job offer -- as compared to the 43.7 percent of unpaid interns who were offered a job. 

For some of us here at Campfire, our last internship ended years -- sometimes decades ago -- so the memories are hazy. We figured, what better way to get the first-hand report of a freshly-finished internship than by tapping our very own intern, Rachel Flannery, for questions, advice, and valuable life lessons.

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Campfire: Let’s talk about how you got involved with Campfire. 

Rachel Flannery: I was trying to find different design and marketing agencies in the Portland area and stumbled upon Campfire. It caught my eye because, I mean -- your brand colors are pink and I love the color pink! I vibed with it. So, I saw that you guys were looking for a marketing intern, and was like, ‘hey, I could do that, probably!’ and I did.

Campfire: What was your impression of internships before you started here?  

RF: I worked at this place last summer where I was a design intern. I don't like to talk about this internship, because it was kind of a scam, but I was a book illustrator intern at this place in Texas. They just wanted free art. I mean, I benefited from it, but I could have benefited more just coming straight to Campfire. I feel like I've really grown as a designer.

DC: Did you feel like you were taken outside your comfort zone?

RF: My major is illustration, which is not exactly design, but I wanted to learn more about design because I knew I wanted to go into that world when I graduated. So, I was definitely pushed out of my comfort zone of illustration and line animations by working so much with social media, design and carousels for Instagram. I really feel like that was what I was looking for.

Campfire: Did you find it difficult to strike a balance between school and this internship?

RF: For me, it felt like it came together. I'm actually part-time, because I only needed three classes to graduate and this was one of them; I'm getting class credit for this. 

Campfire: Give me one or two valuable lessons that you took away from this internship.

RF: I think one of the biggest lessons is to just work on being comfortable. I've always been a shy person, so I was afraid to ask questions. I didn't want to seem like I didn't know what I was doing, I guess. I didn't want to seem dumb or unqualified because that was something I was worried about, but I mean… if I wasn't qualified, then I wouldn't have been hired. That's what asking questions is for.

Campfire: What were some of your favorite projects that you worked on?

RF: I really liked working on this last project that I was doing the Responsibly Different backlog of episodes -- the first 12 episodes. I felt like it was something I knew how to do in theory, but I actually had fun doing it and thinking of different ways and ideas to represent that company. 

Campfire: What’s some advice for college students applying to internships?

RF: This is something that I’ve thought about a lot -- especially now that I'm applying to a million different jobs. In my head, I always repeat: the worst that can happen to you is that they say ‘no.’