First day as a Berrett-Koehler intern...

I was welcomed into the building and immediately headed for Jeevan’s office, where he showed me the photo of his cross-eyed cat hanging lovingly on the wall and introduced me to the collection of toys scattered on my desk, left by previous interns. I also laughed (a lot) at Jeevan’s crate of Twiglets he ordered off Amazon, while in turn Jeevan spent some time looking up Guernsey online – laughing, calling it ‘magical’ and asking if the Island had unicorns.   

Formalities over with, Jeevan immediately threw me off guard by asking what I wanted to gain from my placement, and taking notes as I spoke. This was impressive as companies today often equate interns to free labour (someone to photocopy/run around taking lunch orders and doing little else). I was reassured that Jeevan was taking the time right at  the beginning to find out what I wanted to gain in return for giving up my spare time. Internships are about give and take, and it was good to know that BK recognises this.

Highlight of the day: reviewed my first book proposal, decided it was no good and drafted a rejection email (the author was in the UK so I couldn’t phone them). Having never reviewed a proposal before or observed how BK rejects authors, I was surprised that Jeevan did not want to review the email himself (I had been anticipating a lot of re-writing), and instead just told me to cc him in. It turns out I’d done a good job but had perhaps been a little too harsh in the last paragraph. This level of responsibility on my first day was both very exciting and a bit terrifying, but certainly bodes well for the tasks I’ll be allowed to undertake further into my internship.