By Anonymous
It’s the job a million girls would kill for…but why? One aspiring fashionista recounts her short lived experience as an intern.
When many girls hear the name of the company I interned for, they think of glamorous dresses and yacht-worthy resort wear. So of course any girl who loves fashion would be overjoyed to hear that she was able to obtain an internship with Oscar de la Renta. As you may have figured out, this is what happened to me.
Starting in January, I applied to over 50 summer internship programs. I only heard back from two. Of course I jumped up and down when I read the email asking me to interview. I was already thinking about what would I wear to the interview, and gosh! what would I wear everyday to work. When the interview date
came along I put on my best interview outfit (a cardigan and skirt) and went on my merry way to the Seventh avenue address. As I walked into the elevator I saw the great wall of famous designers. Everyone who was anyone had their office in that building, Ralph Lauren and Badgely Mischka to name a few. When the elevator got to the 8th floor I walked out and saw the television screens in the hallway displaying their latest runway show. At that moment I knew that I was in heaven.
I pushed the sleek glass double doors into the office and waited for my interviewer to arrive. The first question she asked me was “when can you start?” which I came to realize is one of the most magical questions someone can ask you. We chatted for a few more minutes and then I left her office practically dialing everyone I knew to tell them my great news. Finally, the day I had been anticipating had come. I couldn’t sleep the night before and was so giddy that morning. I picked out my outfit weeks in advance, a black lace skirt, purple scoop neck, and gold oxfords. I had to dress to impress.
I felt like a new woman as i sauntered into the building, a grown up with an amazing internship. I met the woman who interviewed me and she sat me at a desk. She gave me a mountain of paperwork and told me to file them according to company. “Fine,” I thought, “as long as I get to work here, maybe later she’ll let me do some more interesting things.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. The whole first part of the morning was paper-work time. I was bored out of my mind. I kept thinking “this will get better, this will get better.” While filing away the paperwork that I just organized, I asked the other intern what has she been doing for the past three weeks that she has been working there. She said “I’ve been sorting through and filing bills.” I was doomed. After she said that I knew that there was no hope for anything more interesting to come around. I was only there half a day and was already bored. After my lunch break I walked up to the intern supervisor and asked her if I can please talk to her. She took me to a different room and asked how was the internship so far. I replied “It’s wonderful, I just think that maybe I’m in the wrong department, I was under the impression that I would be working in the merchandising/marketing end.” She gave me a worried look. “We had a whole talk about finance,” she said, “If you cant remember that talk then you shouldn’t be here”.
I was shell shocked. I opened my mouth to say something and the intern supervisor gave me a nasty look so I shut my mouth as quickly as possible. She walked back to her office. I sat on that couch for about 5 minutes until I could process what just happened. I figured that it’s better to walk out of that office in a dignified fashion as sulking wouldn’t get me anywhere. I walked back to my desk, picked up my bag, and bid adieu to the intern supervisor.
The lesson that I learned from this experience is ask questions! It sometimes may make you feel incompetent but most of these intern supervisors/interviewers want you to ask questions. That way you can know exactly what you’re getting yourself into and don’t feel ridiculous when you find out that your internship is not what you thought it was.
About the Author
Anonymous is an 18 year old who is going to be a freshman this fall at LIM. She plans on studying fashion merchandising and is excited for her first college experience. Her experience in the industry includes interning at Babyphat and Pastry, the high school internship program at Nordstroms junior department, and working with the head merchandiser for lower end brands. She one day hopes to work at a place she loves and to write about her experiences on the side. She is currently working as the sales and marketing intern for an up-and-coming online boutique, Antipodes.
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I interned at Oscar’s last year for about 2 months, and I had almost the same experience you did. I was so excited and couldn’t believe I was getting the opportunity to inter at Oscar De La Renta. I get there and all they had be doing was filling paperwork, and sorting bills. ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. I couldn’t take it how boring it was, and I wasn’t learning a thing. I ended up leaving quickly after being hired. It was extremely dissapointing.
Aw, you poor thing. What is now obvious to us with experience was not so when we were just starting out. It’s easy to be intimidated but try to remain focussed. Do take control by asking questions which allows you to make informed decisions. No one is so cool or famous that it’s ok to be made to feel stupid or worthless. Good luck with your studies!
Wow. I can totally feel your pain. I just had a similar experience with a sleepwear design firm in New York and the worst thing is that now I have to find another way to get my mandatory college credit. I definetly agree that you should certainly be aware of what your getting yourself into when interviewing or even applying for an internship. I think you should also be careful what you say and do at a company because other upper level employees will scruitinize your every move and employers are more likely to fire you on a whim because it takes almost no paper work to do so and they don’t have to worry about workman’s comp. or loosing any kind of money.
Umm… sorry, but you seem to be missing a chunk of what happened between being bored for a day & half and talking to the other intern to being “fired”. I think that what really went down was that you were not doing your work, too chatty, or had too much attitude. Looking at your experience as an intern at various places it should be no surprise that interns to the filing, data entry, running around, and other things full-time employees don’t want to do. It’s too bad it didn’t work out for you because it would have been really great for your resume.
^She chose to leave the position.
If she decided to leave, why is the whole post named “Stories of a Fired Intern” ?? There is even an image which says “FIRED!!” in the post – suggesting that she did in fact get fired..
^Really? I don’t know, I only put the image there. Read the article.
The article says that she chose to leave, yet the word fired is in the title, when in fact she wasn’t fired, she decided to leave herself. The supervisor give her a “worried look” and says “If you cant remember that talk then you shouldn’t be here” – she then decides herself to pack up her stuff, and tell the supervisor she’s leaving. In no way was she fired in the article, thus this is incorrectly titled.
If I may be so daring to say that I think you let your attitude get the best of you here darling, which I’ve found is common for most 18 year olds. With a prestigious company such as Oscar de la Renta, you can’t be expected to be treated like royalty, or even fairly when you’re an intern. If all it would of been was paperwork and filing, you should have grasped the opportunity to do so, then worked your way up, since I believe all experiences can be given a positive spin. It also is not appealing to be a quitter. Now, you lost the chance to feature such a prominent designer’s name on your resume, while burning all future bridges with Oscar de la Renta. While I applaud you for writing an informative article, I don’t see the positives that this is teaching young women, as it says “I give up too easily.”
Dear Sara, how do you think successful people started their careers? By leaving after half a day and complaining just because they don’t keep the intern properly entertained from day 1 on? This is in fact a story about a kid thinking she can skip real work, totally ridiculous.
And I agree with Martine – they didn’t fire you, you just chose to leave.
Technically I was fired, by her making that comment it was clear that she no longer wanted me working there
^Thanks for clearing it up, Sara!
@Jean – I don’t disagree w/ your point, but at the same time Sara has gotten some great gigs! I guess sometimes you just have to follow your heart. Makes for a good debate though!
Actually the lesson you should have learned is never to burn bridges, no matter how shaky they are. It is bad form to badmouth a former employer. Period.
Pay your dues. We all have.