Intern Spotlight: Adriana Calandra

By  Adriana Calandra, FCRH '15

I had a very interesting and enlightening internship experience at Random House Publishing LLC this past Spring 2014 semester. I had one senior advisor with whom I worked with closely, but was also a part of a larger team of six or so members of the Special Market - Sales department. In the first week of the internship, I was taught how to use most of the software that I would need to know throughout the course of the internship, including: inter-office shipping software, out-of-office shipping software, software to find and upload book jackets, software to look up any information imaginable on any book that Random House has published over the years, and also software used to put together presentations for potential clients. In addition, I was expected to have high working proficiency with applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel. Each morning, I would send out an email to the team in which I was interning under and ask them for specific projects on which I may be able to assist them that day. The majority of my projects worked on a day-to-day basis but more than a few carried on throughout the week or took a few weeks to complete.

Although information that I may have learned or work that I may have done during my internship does not directly relate to any of my courses or any coursework that I have done in the past, my new developed understanding of the applications used will certainly help me as I continue in my college career. In addition, my ability to manage my time has greatly improved. When I emailed my team and inquired about their projects each morning, they were mostly unaware of the projects that the other team members had also given me for that day. Each team member expected me to complete his or her project in a timely matter, no matter my other work for the day. Due to this, I believe that I am more capable of handling greater responsibility and delivering positive results despite a time crunch. This will not only aid me as I continue college but will also prove to be invaluable in my future career, whatever that career may be.

Speaking of a career path, I am still unsure of what mine will be, looking towards the future. Prior to the internship, I was certain that I intended to work for a publishing house, specifically in a marketing or sales department. After the internship, however, I am not so sure. I think that I would still like to work in the publishing industry but I am certain that it would not be in a sales department. I am currently leaning more towards the Edit department, which works closer with authors. This may sound like my internship was a failure but I consider it to be anything but that. I learned a great deal about the industry in which I hope to possibly pursue as well as myself through working at Random House. I don’t believe that I would have really understood the job in which I thought that I wanted unless I had given it a try first. Without this internship, I may have pursued a job in publishing sales and only realized after graduation that it isn’t for me. So while I still can’t name the exact position in which I plan to pursue after graduation, I feel like I am much closer to doing so thanks to my internship this semester at Random House.