At about this time last year, I was hired as a social media manager. While I loved every minute of it, I was insanely busy. It dawned on me that I was going to need more hands on deck if I intended to take the department I was currently running solo and sail it in the direction I wanted it to go in. I met with my boss and she suggested that I hire an intern. Having just come off of recently being an intern myself, I blanched at first if only because the thought of having my own employee (who, me?) so soon was not something I had envisioned happening just yet.
She took my brief moment of surprise to add, "Get two of them!"
Alrighty then!
I've been managing both of my wonderful social media assistants, James and Kelsey, for a year and it has been no less different now than when they were first hired. I cut my managerial teeth in high school when I worked at a Subway restaurant with many other coworkers, many of which I had seniority over and would train to teach them how to run the restaurant smoothly. The landscape might have changed since then but I have carried over my skill set from high school and from other jobs I've had with me to create a working environment that actually works (and still teaches the kiddos a thing or two).
I Never Call Them Interns
"Intern" is beginning to have a nasty aftertaste associated with it. What started as a chance to give students the opportunity to work behind the scenes in an industry that they hope to later make a career out of has since turned to grunt work. You may not even wind up getting the hands-on experience you crave. The vast majority of internships are unpaid and demand employment of 20-40 hours a week. There is also no guarantee of hiring or that the term will renew itself either.
Luckily, the company I work for believes in paying its interns for the hard work they do. Within my particular department there is a lot of hands-on work. We all blog together, Tweet, and Facebook. I fail to see James and Kelsey as anything else but my equals. We are a team: Team Social Media. That's our nickname for the department and we also refer to one another as "a gang" too. I often start off emails to them both by saying, "Hey gang!" or "Hey y'all!" I much prefer this to using "interns" because there is no "I" in "team." But there sure is in "intern."
Get a Game Plan Going
One of my first major concerns when both James and Kelsey were hired was that I wanted to be able to assign them work each week that would be both equal in amount and was as tailored to their particular writing voices as possible. My past work experience in restaurants taught me how to constantly be on my toes and how to play up to my strengths. Before they started working, I created lists of immediate writing responsibilities they would have and then a future list as well of potential options to keep exploring and working on. Thinking in future tense won't hurt you when you have your first intern because plans change. The worst possible thing is to go in with no particular idea of what to assign them to work on or do with their time. You're a leader now. Behave as a leader would.
Be a Leader, Not a God
I have dealt with many people who have abused their higher level status within companies to go on power trips and terrorize employees into listening or else... you're fired. I adamantly refuse to behave as though I am "God-like" because of a job title. I work to keep the balance of great work mixed with great fun at the workplace as I believe any great leader should do. While I certainly expect to be treated with respect, I don't want James or Kelsey cowering at my presence. This is not The Devil Wears Prada. It's not needed here.
Communicate!
And how! I email and text both James and Kelsey often with messages on everything from their schedules to an upcoming assignment to a funny cat video on YouTube. Open lines of communication are crucial in any line of work, particularly social media where being connected and "on" is a given at a moment's notice. I also encourage them both to ask me whenever they have a question, brainstorm with me when they're out of ideas, and send along any noteworthy news story they see online. As well as any hilarious meme too. Don't tell me Team Social Media doesn't know how to have fun- trust me, we go hard. There is no such thing as "all work and no play" when your job involves being on Facebook all day!
Heather Taylor is a social media enthusiast, freelance writer, and blogger who writes and muses on social networks, business, and fashion and the occasional combination of all three. She has had her written work published with Yahoo! Shine, BettyConfidential, HelloGiggles, The Huffington Post, and more. Contact her on Twitter @howveryheather or directly email [email protected].