This open letter was submitted by Jenavi Kasper, who recently resigned as an intern at one of the large local ad agencies:
Dear Local Advertising Agency Named After the Founders,
Well, it’s been one heck of a time interning over at your super-cool office. The Friday in-house happy hour was a great touch. When I landed the internship at your place I was excited. Working downtown in a hip office, getting some experience in the industry and the free beer is what lured me in. It sounded like a dream! And I have to say, when I told people where I was interning they were pretty impressed.
But you guys dropped the ball (figuratively of course). Come to think of it, while I was there I never did see anyone start the pick-up game of basketball I was expecting to break out at any moment–but maybe I was tainted by the YouTube video. (What good is the basketball hoop in the office if nobody uses it?)
I would be crazy to leave, right? Even if it was an unpaid internship it’s still a resumè builder.
But, if you can believe it, I left this experience disappointed.
Maybe that’s my fault. I had unrealistic expectations. I thought that interning would allow me to use my brain and maybe, just maybe, apply some of what I spent four years learning. But you proved me wrong. You have snatched my naiveté like a pillowcase filled with candy on Halloween.
The funny thing is, I didn’t get it right away. When you assigned me to organize the pens by color on my first day I didn’t worry much about it. When you asked me to drop off DVDs to your client’s office, I didn’t think twice (though I wasn’t paid for gas). I didn’t even mind when you asked me to help you move binders out of your office.
But it started to get old fast. When “helping with projections” meant reading you numbers off a spreadsheet I became a little discouraged. When “working with scripts” meant retyping scripts I was bummed. It was especially painful when I spent all morning cleaning out an office for the new girl while you guys took off to Starbucks.
It wasn’t all bad. You did let me go to that commercial shoot, which was fun, and it was great to be able to sit in on a couple of meetings. But there are some things you should keep in mind before you bring in my replacement:
Remember, we are ADVERTISING students. That stuff you do for your clients to get the word out, the get the brand promise out to the target audience, we know how to do that too. We also know those Jedi mind tricks.
We want to learn as much about the business as possible and if you can’t provide that training we will find someplace else that will. That place might be your competition.
Or heck, we’ll freelance and become your competition.
So be careful. You don’t want to end up being called out on a blog, do you?
Yours Truly,
The Intern
If you’re looking for someone capable of something a bit more subtle than sorting pens, you can reach Jenavi on Facebook and Twitter, or by e-mail at jenavikasper@yahoo.com.
Tyler Hurst, I smell crap and its coming out of your mouth. Now I’am not an advertising student or intern but I know and, it’s common sense this girls career is not over. I know someone will appreciate her attitude. I mean if it really is about attitude well she just proved that she isn’t a little brown nosing tool, shes a confident, independent and ready for real work. so I just got two words for the likes of you F#@$ off.
Ok weather what Jenavi did was right or wrong is no longer the issue. Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.
Each and everyone of you is making an impression by posting on here. Those of you who are calling her names and telling her shes dumb, naive,and arrogant, telling her that she ruined her career. You are calling her out and doing the same thing she did! The only difference is many of you have years of experience unlike her.
Do any of you personally know this girl besides James? Either way there are a lot of people that are being straight up hypocrites, its a bit ridiculous. Just you watch, Jenavi will make a name for herself, and contrary to many of your beliefs, she will do amazing things.
Hork Bajar – hahahahahahahahahaha. okay.
Why so angry – actually, the anonymous people, like you, calling her out are far worse than what she did.
I’m sorry you hoped for a free ride when accepting your internship– the start of a career filled of basketball tourneys and beer chugging contests while on the clock. But it appears that you really didn’t learn much in school or you just checked your common sense at the door. It’s called work. It’s ironic that your are frustrated with not getting all the frat house perks you assumed would come along with the job, but that you also weren’t given challenging tasks either. So which is it?? Sounds like organzing pens is just the free ride you were aiming for– without even realizing it. If you really wanted to be challenged, you should have challenged yourself first. Asked for the work. Asked for the opportunity. Relentlessly knocked on doors and spoke up in meetings and told your mentor you’d even take a stab at something concurrently while one of the salaried guys worked on it, too. Better yet, would have been impressive for you just to do it without asking to show what you were really made of. But I guess you were too busy making your list of reasons why you were being held down or overlooked. So who’s the one wasting your talent, really? I’ve been in your shoes. I was an advertising intern with the same frustrations, but I took at proactive approach and here I am years later at Director level. It’s not too late for you to get a new perspective, check the chip on your shoulder at the door and get to work.
Wow, way to start a fire, Jenavi!
Emotion is good, we are all human last time I checked.
Entitlement? Some of us just want something better than the status quo. What’s wrong with that? The status quo hasn’t gotten us very far lately…
[...] that when an intern resigned her position from local Phoenix ad agency, Moses Anshell, wrote an open letter about her experience and posted it on the Phoenix Ad Blog, that it stirred quite the reaction. The post spread like [...]
Obviously I can’t speak to whether Jenavi got the internship she deserved or should have expected — although the short duration suggests she may not have given it enough time and/or communication to find out.
But I would like to add my 2c about internships. I have supervised quite a few interns, and watched many more supervised by others. In my experience, what makes for a quality internship is, first and foremost, clarity about expectations on both sides. No internship is going to work well if either party withholds the truth about what they’re seeking. I also personally put great stock in unpaid internships — I think they ensure that interns get a crack at doing/being exposed to stuff that doesn’t generate a “return on salary”. I’m a fan of unpaid to start, then paid after a while.
I think interns should get a mix of boring menial crap (which everyone I know has continued to do even after over 20 years in business and many promotions), thoughtful analytics and investigation, planning and financials, client meetings and presentations, and exposure to really strategic, exciting work. If not, how will they know what they’re good at, what they like? If it takes working for more than one person at the agency to give them that experience, all the better.
I’ve seen some amazing folks do an unbelievable job during internships and go on to great careers. But it definitely requires the cooperating of all parties — the intern, the supervisor(s) and the company. And good communication all around.
The real question. Is she a pirate or a ninja?
I’d love to see your rating on InternshipRatings.com. You definitely have a lot to say!
Frankly I dont understand all the bitterness directed towards this girl. I think she could have handled it better and spoken directly to the folks at Moses about her desire for greater responsibility. No one is perfect, I’m sure they would have appreciated the feedback and taken steps to make her internship more fulfilling for both her and the agency. That would have been the more professional approach.
That said, my first internship was at a law firm and they worked me hard. I didnt organize pens or clean offices. But I did my fair share of data entry, basic HTML editing, competitive and industry research,and lots of other activities that didnt require a lot of supervision but definitely laid the foundation for my first job out of college.
I would have been extremely upset if I had given my free time towards an internship and they had me doing the types of tasks this young lady speaks of. Perhaps the folks at Moses only saw it as an opportunity to further themselves by leveraging some free labor instead of approaching it as an opportunity to coach and mentor a young mind. Without knowing the full story its hard to say. Either way, the uproar seems a little over exaggerated to me.
[...] Don’t be like the Sci-Fi channel and make up words (SyFy and WyFy) to be clever. Don’t be like Wal-Mart, who somehow thinks that lawyers are necessary to interact on Twitter. Don’t be like Gannett, who told staffers by phone they were going to be laid off tonight. Don’t be like Jenavi Kasper. [...]
So why not say who it is? Transparency…
Chuck – I did in my first post. Not sure if anyone else did. But yeah…cowardice.
Wow, quite a lot to take in here…
There has been a lot said that I agree with; and that which I don’t.
Speaking “your voice,” for speaking’s sake, is just masturbatory talk.
What is the point of this post? Is it an expose on the harsh realities of internship? Is it a personal jab at a potential employer whom you feel wronged you? How is this an “open letter?”
What good could possibly come of this?
This is the conversation you SHOULD have had with your potential employer. Disparaging a firm in this way, without some substantial justification, is simply unprofessional–and only proves the point that you aren’t yet ready to be entrusted with “real” work.
You could have published this “letter” and kept the agency completely anonymous. That would have been the proper, professional way of handling it. Show some tact.
Like many other people have mentioned, I can see this as nothing more than an “entitlement” issue.
Kyle
@James
‘Side note: I encouraged Jenavi to write up her experiences when I heard about them. She intentionally avoided naming the agency, and it wasn’t her intent to trash anyone or to “go complain on a blog.”’
But I can’t see giving “clues” that make it easy to guess, as being anonymous in any way or fashion.
Wow… Leaving aside the merits of speaking out publicly like this, I think this woman is going to have a tough time with the work world as a whole. 25 years into my career, I’m still doing the boring and basic tasks that don’t challenge me at all, because it’s what I need to do in order to get to the fun and interesting stuff. In my first paid jobs, I had to push hard to get beyond being stuck with the tedious, brainless tasks automatically allotted to the newest arrival on the team. And if you don’t ask and don’t push for it, you don’t get it. Your employers — whether they are using you as an intern or hiring you as an employee — want to see that you have initiative and care enough to work to get the most out of the experience. Seems as if Jenavi has been focusing too much on what she was owed by the internship experience rather than what she needed to put into it to make it work.
And if she thinks the freelance world is all that easy and free of exactly the same kind of stuff she despised doing as an unpaid intern, all I can say (as someone who has been making a living freelancing for 7 years) is that she’s got a very rude awakening ahead of her.
Free speech is great, ditto feistiness and attitude — but so is good judgment.
[...] Phoenix, a young intern recently got caught in the same trap. Read her story here. Hers was certainly a less hateful diatribe, but led to the same questions and comments. [...]
[...] Tips for Ad Agencies & Interns from A Former Intern“ as his response to a controversial open letter posted on the Phoenix Ad Blog by an intern who resigned her position from Phoenix ad agency Moses Anshell. As a side note if you [...]
Jenavi, I say freelance. You do have the stuff!
I love this girl. Fantastic attitude. She will rock wherever they let her try.
The intern game is a load of crap in many advertising institutions. (And unlike 95% of those posting, I owned one. A very successful one.)
We had interns too. But we only had them if there was something for them to do. Being a glorified gopher is not something we wanted for free. Inspiration from someone younger, a fresh pair of eyes, is a great boon to the creative. And getting some great interns in the programming area was one of the best things we ever did. All three went FT within 4 months.
But bottom line is she is right to leave. Advertising for the most part is sitting around naval gazing about how cool they are while the industry around them is going to shit. The ads being cranked out by so many once hip agencies are not worth a damn. Same-ol, same-ol.
Meet the new boss, same as the old…yaddayadda…
Egos are too big for the accomplishments so trivial.
Hey, kid. I’d love to work with you. But I am sure that some real creatives have already snatched you up.
Jenavi,
I know the ad firm you are talking about (basketball hoop gave it away) and the guys I meet from there seem a little arrogant anyway. You are much better off being somewhere else. By the way internships are hard, you do have to do some of the crap work, but at the same time you need to be learning. I’ve had a couple of internships in my field and have always received an assinment that was new and challenging. If you get another internship before moving into the field, learn from this and ask for things that are more challenging and that will be helpful to your carrer. I recommend trying for a smaller agency, they seem happier giving you more that will help you verse organizing pens by color (seriously, that sounded ridiculous).
ha.. Saw this post from Facebook. Interesting. Did not know such thing about open letter that is not too open.
I would love to hire an intern who has talent over their personality. A company may accept a new employee with attitude, but definitely won’t accept new employee who has no talent. You need to ask and prove that you can do much better job other than organize the pens. You get what you ask for, if you ask.
Doing boring jobs is what we all do in our career. That’s one of the reason we quit and find a new one. Be real. Just like in the graduate school, professor don’t teach anything. They gives your hints and opportunities. It’s up to you to grab it.
I would love to hire an intern in advertising and marketing fileds. I promise that I don’t have colorful pens to count.
We are excited that Jenavi will be joining us for the August Meetup of PHX Marketers!
Clearly we have a lot on our minds when it comes to internships. This month’s gathering will be an opportunity for us to continue this conversation in a group setting – and for Jenavi, a chance to respond.
Please join us on Thursday, August 20th at 7PM at Gangplank!
I tell you what everyone, welcome to the new millennium.
The same people who bark about the intrinsic needs of clients and businesses to adapt to new realities are whining that she didn’t enjoy old school processes. The days where someone’s ego or self-importance rule the roost are diminishing.
Here’s the thing, I have no idea who she’s talking about, but I have a great idea that the people who brought her in are more likely to just have mismanaged.
How many of you really believe that she was given grunt-work due to some grander plan? Please…
There are plenty of places to work, if not, make your own. either way… opportunity is not a visitor that randomly knocks, it is a flowing river that will wash over anyone who jumps in. She probably did herself a big favor in the long run.
I totally feel her pain. I was an intern for a large real estate firm not too long ago. The executives treated me the same way. I loved how these companies claim to teach you all about the real world and how to be a professional within your market. O yes, they teach you…about how they can scam interns for cheap labor and terrible busy work. My advice, find a young growing company that seeks out interns for the use of their new attitudes and bright ideas. Not uneducated “executives” who are trying to show their dominance by hiring students who are looking for a chance to grow.
Trying to figure out if Jenavi is all Jerry Sprenger airing her dirty laundry on here, or Paris Hilton marketing genius, even getting herself a guest speaker role for her dirty deeds. All I can say is the comments back to her posting aren’t nearly as funny or ridiculous or nasty as the comments would have been if Paris Hilton or Jerry Sprenger had written it, so I’m honestly not amused. I think I’ll go ready some of Tyler H’s tweets instead.
Ruin career? No. She will probably regret her attitude in the future though. You don’t help yourself by hurting others. If she truly didn’t like the internship she could have left without telling them off. Better to leave bridges in tact.
She’ll be fine. She’s hot.
PS: All this commenting stuff is lame. Get back to work.
This post and the threads are an interesting education in differences between industries. I work in high tech engineering and development. The difference between that industry and advertising is stark. The main difference:
- PR or advertising interns are expected to do things for a year or so that could easily be done by any reasonable but untrained person, just to earn their stripes.
- Engineering interns are expected to write code, review schematics, test things and apply their training, with guidance as needed.
I suppose Jenavi’s expectations were out of line for the type of work she has chosen to do. But asking an engineering intern to sort pens or clean offices would not only be considered demeaning but also wasting the skills of a valuable contributor.
Seems like the PR industry is wasting creative minds if it takes a few months to a year before substantial contributions are allowed.
I know Jenavi personally – she was a student in my eMarketing class at the Art Institute of Phoenix. She is brilliant, hard working and with impeccable ethical conduct. I am sure she has a great professional future ahead of her.
Jenavi was one of my students at Art Institute of Phoenix – actually one of my brightest. She had the desire and drive to learn, grow and excel in advertising. As a 25 year industry veteran I know that internships come with some “dirty work.” But what good are they, really, if they’re not a bridge between school and work, helping interns put the theories to the test in the real world, and gaining the professional tools they need?
One of the biggest problems in the Phoenix market is that there’s no serious account management training or mentoring going on. Jenavi has what it takes to be a very good AE, but the internship didn’t provide the environment.
Note to my peers in ad agencies and design firms around town: Please put together a detailed job description for your interns and clarify expectations BEFORE they sign on. It’s just simple common sense…what we ad people are supposed to have in spades.
[...] Get a reality check. You may have the chops in a room full of your classmates. You may have some nice school work for your portfolio. In reality, you have a piece of paper. The same piece of paper that everyone else does, minus the experience. You’ve done nothing, and you have everything to prove. The best way to get past that, is to prove it. Stick it out, put in your time and whatever happens, don’t do this. [...]
Having taught and worked in this market I have one thing to say. An entitled attitude from the beginning is what I’m thinking is the problem. If you have a bad internship experience is at least 50% your fault.