I’ve just wrapped up my first week as an intern, and what a week its been!
My first encounter with Perth Rotary as an intern was a business mingle night in the main ballroom of the Duxton Hotel! With many guest speakers and high profile guests ranging from all aspects of business in WA, it was one of the best experiences I’ve had to date. I managed to meet many of the members and important figures involved with the club, and was taking many notes of what was being spoken about and what was happening. The night ended with a board meeting after everyone had left, and we discussed the direction that we wanted to take this initiative (Rotary Means Business) and booked in the near future date where we are going to meet and discuss further.
I felt like I have taken a lot away from this experience. I have never been in a board meeting before. Everyone had the opportunity to have give their input on the topic, and they even wanted to hear my perspective on each different situation, which was pretty cool. I also got to hear from many members that had been apart of Rotary for many years. I heard many stories about many different projects and they were all looking forward to what I can bring to the table moving forward with this organisation!
Later on that week, I had a meeting with my supervisor at his office in Subiaco, and we discussed the tasks that I would be working on throughout my Internship. The main project I will be working on will be the Rotary Means Business Fellowship. He explained to me that the mission would be to encourage more business between members to result in ultimately benefiting the community, as of late rotary has been not as focused on the business aspect of the club. This means members would priorities members to do business with, instead of any Larry on the internet. My first task will include a bit of market research. I am to do an audit of all our members to update their information. There are over 50 clubs in WA with over 1000 members, so this will definitely take some time! I was explained the end goal will to be create a database where members can search for members with services they need to do business with.
I feel like this is a great concept, and will work on my telecommunication, speaking and data skills. I am excited to get started!
Wow, it sounds like you really dived in heads first to this internship! I definitely would have been nervous meeting everyone all at once at a big event like that, but it doesn’t sound like you had any nerves at all which is great!
You’re right, that audit is going to take a while but I think it’s great that you got to meet everyone and understand why this audit is important beforehand, rather than just being told to gather a whole pile of information and data that you wouldn’t understand without. Good luck with your internship journey, it sounds like you’ve found a fantastic company with such nice people to guide you along the next few weeks.