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I wrote several weeks ago about how to start off an internship right and what I had learned in my first few weeks about internship etiquette, landing a killer letter of recommendation, and how to shred paper most effectively. (If you still haven’t quite mastered the shredder, check out that article here.) Now, halfway done with my internship, I’m more adapted into the work environment, but am still working to understand my office. While Mail Merger has become old news to me, exactly what constitutes work culture still hasn’t. For one thing, you can’t pre-game work in the same way college students find reasons to for every other event. The only shot I have before my job is an extra shot of espresso in my Venti iced coffee and that drink just manages to keep my eyes open on my way to the office rather than inciting me to belt out my own rendition of “Party in the USA.” But aside from the lack of binge drinking and illegitimate holidays, I’ve noticed a lot of other stark differences between work and college culture. 1. It’s mostly business. While at school, the default response to most things is a mix of too-cool criticism and ironic humor, at work, you’re expected to take things seriously. When your boss at work tells you to file credit card reconciliations, it’s probably not be okay to ask her what sins the poor pieces of plastic committed. (Editor’s note: I think that’s hilarious. Bravo Maeve) I may have made the mistake of calling my boss a slave-driver (jokingly!) within the first few weeks of my internship and her confused half-smile let me know right away that my college humor would have to be reserved for my charmingly immature school friends. Similarly, although this could vary greatly between offices, learn to accept the fact that work friends fall under a different category than “regular” friends. Water-cooler talk tends to have unspoken limits in terms of privacy and appropriateness. In the office, you may have to leave a lot of aspects of your personal life at the door and choose to talk about more neutral topics instead. 2. It’s long. The most alarming difference between college and work for me has been the hours. The fact that people across the country work 9-5 year in and year out still blows my mind. I was going to attribute my unrest at my desk to my amazingly short attention span, but after doing some research, I’ve found that transitioning to an eight-hour work day is actually a very common problem for college students. Apparently it can take up to a year to adjust to working a full day and then managing a healthy social life afterwards, but have no fear, it can be done! While you might not be able to sleep in until 10:oo and then take breaks between study sessions to watch The Bachelorette or get Chipotle, you will learn how to make use of distinctly post-work activities like happy-hour specials and late-night TV. 3. There are no right answers. Be prepared to think on your feet and more critically in the workplace than you ever did in college. There is very little regurgitation of facts. Which means unfortunately, that four years of school you spent mastering the perfect cramming technique won’t necessarily help you when you’re giving a presentation or speaking with a client. Instead, you have to learn how to make decisions with confidence, and learn informally from everyone and everything around you. The list could go on and on but give me a break, I’m just an intern. Basically, if you’re like me and most of your knowledge of work culture comes from watching eight seasons of The Office, get ready for some big changes. That being said, no two work settings are identical and more and more companies are re-thinking corporate culture and the type of environments in which people work best: Google’s offices, for example, include slides between floors, firefighter poles and bumper-car desks. So here’s to plunging (figuratively or, at Google, literally) into the workforce post-college and embracing the changes and differences you’ll find there. With an open mind, a willingness to learn, and a lot of caffeine, you’ll be up for the challenge.

nextgenjournal.com