Things I Have Learned from My Summer Internship @ Aerosoles

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It’s been almost three weeks since my summer internship at Aerosoles ended. I am now back at school, enjoying the company of my friends and the somewhat surreal experience of junior year. However, the wonderful memory of my internship still remains fresh in my mind – the amazing people I worked with, the 9-to-7 daily routine, the extraordinary traffic on New Jersey Garden State Parkway (Okay, I admit, this part is not a wonderful memory) and of course, the many lessons that I have learned from my first taste of the American corporate life. This post serves as the perfect opportunity for me to reflect upon these valuable lessons.

Lesson 1: There are many things that school does not teach.

School does not teach everything. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Many of the skills required to survive and thrive in life are learned on the spot. And that’s definitely true when one steps into a new job, simply because different industries – or even different companies within the same industry – often require vastly different packages of skills and knowledge. And in today’s highly digitized world, such knowledge usually takes the form of technical (read: computer) know-how.

For example, Aerosoles is a retail company and as such, makes extensive use of the various kinds of customer service, inventory management, order processing software available in the market. During my two-month internship at Aerosoles, I got the chance to work with a range of diverse retail systems including Raymark, Geac/JBA, KWI and so on. Such skills, being extremely specific, precise and technical, are seldom taught at school.

Does that mean schools are useless? Of course not. I always believe that the “what” we learn at school is never as important as the “how” we learn. The mission of schools and education in general is not only to produce learned scholars but also to nurture life-long always-ready learners. And the 16 years of education I have received so far has definitely prepared me for the numerous hidden and unexpected teaching moments I encountered during my two-month internship.

Similarly, many of the “hard skills” I learned at Aerosoles are probably not going to be transferable when I work in another company or industry in the future. But what’s truly valuable is that in the process of learning these hard skills, I have also acquired some “soft skills” – interpersonal communication, time management, leadership quality- that I believe will be useful no matter where I go and what I do in life.

(Phew, that was one wordy lesson. The following ones will be shorter. I promise. )

Lesson 2: It’s extremely important to excel in Excel.

The power of Excel should never be underestimated. I first learned that during my job as an administrative assistant at S H Tang & Associates in Singapore, an accounting/auditing firm. My Excel skills were further improved at the Finance Bootcamp organized by Colgate Investment Club last year. But it wasn’t until this summer that my Excel skills were put into real test. Not only did my two-month internship at Aerosoles bring my Excel skills to a higher level, but it also made me appreciate the beauty of Excel. Yes, it can be frustrating sometimes when trying to convert a conceptually simple problem into a solution that is workable in the context of Excel (I just need the highlighted cells to be put into one table. How hard can that be?!).  But when it does work, it is almost magical. I’ve had numerous “orgasmic” experiences in my little cubicle when I overcame the limitation of VLOOKUP with an INDEX/MATCH formulae, or when I completed an entire report in Excel without using the mouse once (keyboard shortcuts rock!). I know that probably sounded a bit sick and extremely nerdy, but it’s absolutely true. When my colleagues and supervisors started to ask me for help with their Excel worksheets, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of achievement. And I am proud of that.

Lesson 3: There is always a shortcut, unless there isn’t one.

As mentioned above, keyboard shortcuts rock. They are easy to learn and can often be a great time-saver or even a life-saver. In a way, I am very tempted to relinquish my allegiance to my MacBook, because the shortcut system on Windows machines seems so much more simple and sensical. But keyboard shortcuts aren’t the only way to tremendously simplify one’s life in the office. Most of the corporate software are designed to streamline the work process. So if one’s willing to dig deep into the system, seize command of the software and unleash it’s true potential, one is almost guaranteed to find a way to simplify an otherwise complicated and daunting task. (I didn’t know it could do that!)

More important than finding shortcuts in the computer system, however, is the ability to closely examine a project and try to find creative and ingenious way to solve the problem. And this is where I think being an intern actually has its advantage. After spending years in the same office, many people tend to operate strictly within their comfort zone and let past experience guide their present endeavors. Things become repetitive and habitual. An intern, on the other hand, often comes with minimal experience – a blank slate, you may call it – and as such, is not constrained by the past and is more likely to think outside the box. Of course, before an intern tries to find a “creative” way to tackle the project, it is always important to think about what the goal of the project ultimately is (Lesson #6) and ask the supervisor whether a creative way is actually feasible (Lesson #5).

One caveat with shortcuts, though, is that sometimes there simply isn’t a shortcut and trying to find one in such a case can often ruin the whole project. Other times, a shortcut, while time-saving, may lead to more errors. So it’s crucial to strike a balance between speed and accuracy. For me, finishing a project on time with 100% accuracy is more impressive than finishing a project early with 99% accuracy.

Lesson 4: There is always something to do in the office.

Student internships are supposed to be simple, basic and sometimes boring. Yes, boring. But they are also supposed to be a learning and more importantly, a growing opportunity for the student. It’s true that at the beginning of my internship, I was often given the most basic and repetitive tasks. But I never complained about them and never allowed myself to be discouraged by them. I know the reason why I was given such simple tasks is because 1) I didn’t have the required skills to work on more challenging projects yet, and 2) my supervisors and colleagues did not have enough faith, trust and confidence in me. And my way to overcome these two obstacles was to finish every project, no matter how trivial, on a timely and error-free manner and to add some value to the project whenever possible. Not only did I acquire more skills in this way, but I also started building trust between my supervisors and me.

And whenever I finished a project, I would always go around the office to ask for more projects to work on. I know I may sound like a crazy workaholic, but internships are always very short, so the more I work, the more I learn. Furthermore, there is always something to do in the office. Always. So there was really no reason for me to simply sit in front of my computer and play with my Facebook (despite how addicted I am to it) when there were plenty of learning opportunities lying around me. I admit it could get a bit annoying for my supervisors and colleagues when I kept asking them “is there anything else I could help with?”. But at least I knew they would keep me in mind and would come to me when they had a new project. And indeed, that’s what they did. During the second half of my internship, I hardly need to go around and ask for things to work on any more, because projects would simply come to me one after another. Sometimes, my colleagues even had to compete for me! An unexpected bonus to me walking around the office and asking for more projects was that people from other departments also started to come to me and offer me things to work on. So by the end of my internship, I had already worked with the international team, the retail team, the wholesale team and the allocation team. How awesome that was!

Lesson 5: Never be afraid to ask questions.

This one may seem obvious, but at the beginning of my internship, I was really afraid of asking questions. What if I asked a silly question? What if my supervisor thought I was dumb? But then I realized I could never produce an excellent piece of work without fully understanding what I was doing. And trying to figure out things on one’s own can sometimes have disastrous consequences, especially when one does not yet have the necessary experience and expertise. So I asked. And fortunately, my supervisors and colleagues were always very patient with me.

Not only did asking questions keep me on the right track, but it also helped me see how my work fit into the bigger picture of the company. Some time during the third week of my internship, I had my epiphany – something clicked. I could see how everything I did was all connected to each other. I could see the supply chain going from our office in New Jersey to our factories in China to our retail stores in Los Angeles to our partners in Portugal. And I doubt I could have had this epiphany if I had allowed myself to keep doing mindless work instead of asking the questions.

Besides asking specific questions related to each project, I also learned to ask general questions about the industry  - are the prices in outlets always lower than the prices in retail stores? Do retail companies actually sell under cost? I realized I was working with people who are experts in the industry and actually know what they are doing. So why not seize the opportunity and ask questions I’ve already had about the industry?

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Above are just five out of the many lessons I learned at Aerosoles this summer. I was really fortunate enough to work with some truly amazing and inspiring people. And I will forever be grateful for their guidance, advice, patience and understanding.

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On the last day of my internship, I handed out a thank-you note couple with

1. Please tell me the areas I need to improve. What could I have done better or faster? What skills should I work on improving? Where are my weaknesses? Please feel free to comment on specific projects or more generally on attitude, habits, etc.

I can’t think of anything! You are a model employee – on time, ambitious, detail-oriented, thorough. Who could ask for more!

The only critique I can give you is to just keep learning! The more you learn in different aspects of business, the better you will be and you’ll go even further in your career!

Best of luck in school!

Zach – you have the right attitude; you jump right in and take accountability for your work load.

As fas as the projects yo worked on for me, everything was given on a timely basis and well thought out.

Hopefully in the future we will get a chance to work together, in more detail.

Zach, in all honesty, I have nothing negative to say! You’re great and did anything we needed fast and correct!

If anything, sometimes you were too quick and didn’t give me enough time to find something else for you!

2. Please tell me what went well. What are my strengths?

You were very proactive and ambitious. You always asked everyone for a project as soon as you completed what you were working on.

You are a pro in Excel! This is great because you found more efficient ways to do things!

You learn very quickly. I don’t remember even one time that you needed to be trained on something more than once.

You are very detail-oriented and accurate. I know if I gave you a project that you would complete it correctly.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Your strength – you take pride in what you do, which is rare for someone your age (meaning college students these days).

You are extremely dedicated and hardworking. Whatever was needed from you was completed properly and super fast. You learned our crazy computer systems fast and were very efficient with everything! Please don’t leave us!