When I walked into my intern orientation at Wiley’s riverfront office in Hoboken, NJ this past May, I was excited and anxious about the coming days and weeks. It was the first day of my ten week internship with Wiley, a publishing company that has three major divisions- Science, Technical, Medical and Scholarly journals for research and scholarly communities, Professional/Trade for professionals and consumers and Global Education for undergraduate, graduate and advanced placement students. This first moments before orientation started, thoughts were racing through my head. Would I be able to complete all that was asked of me? Would I feel comfortable in my work environment? Would this all be too overwhelming? But little did I know, when I walked out of Wiley’s doors that very day, I would already begin to feel the hospitality that would develop extensively throughout my time there. My experience at Wiley helped me to learn more about myself as a professional than I ever could have anticipated, and to gain irreplaceable knowledge about the publishing industry. I made connections with talented professionals and wonderful people, and formed bonds with the other 17 impressive interns. 
Looking back on the CUPID blog post that I wrote before I started my time at Wiley, I held certain expectations about my experience that were unquestionably met throughout my time there. I mentioned my anticipation about communication and collaboration in the work place. There is no question that everything I have learned throughout my education as a Professional Writing and Rhetoric major has taught me the extreme importance of effective communication. Before I even started on my first day at Wiley, I understood that they valued effective communication. I received an informative packet in the mail a few months before my internship started. Much of my packet included documentation to fill out, but one page that I was particularly impressed by was a letter addressed to me directly, detailing what my roles as an Editorial Intern in the Life Sciences department would entail. For me, this was Wiley’s first demonstration of their ethos. I was able to assume, and later observe to be true on my own, that Wiley was a company that valued communication between their employees. I realize now how essential this is in creating a cooperative and caring work place. My managers were always ready and willing for any questions I had, and kept very open communication with me. They were patient and understanding when it came to my abilities, and were more than happy to answer any of my questions. And I was completely comfortable going to them and asking for help or clarification on a project when necessary. My internship started with the promise of organization and communication, and throughout my time there, I found that I felt entirely comfortable as a result of this open communication within the work place.
Much of my time spent at Wiley required me to speak to various different professionals in the medical and scientific field on a regular basis. Whether young scientists, authors or reviewers, I was constantly speaking with people via phone or email about submissions, book orders and various other topics. At first, I was very intimidated about the prospect of dealing with professionals and experts whose scientific knowledge is far beyond my own. But what I came to realize is that I was capable of communicating with them, as long as I was confident and willing to help them. I realized that I did not need to be an expert in what they were in an expert in to help them reach their publishing needs. By develop my ethos, and proving myself to be an efficient person to work with, I felt like I was able to establish my professional identity at Wiley in a positive manner.
Another wonderful component of my internship was collaboration. I worked with my manager on a writing project throughout my entire time at my internship. As the topic of this blog post was about the olfactory bulb (it has to do with hearing, for non-science people like myself), and I was clearly not well versed in this topic. Between lots of research, revision and of course collaboration, my manager and I managed to come up with what I consider to be a strong blog post. The various collaborative writing projects that I have worked on within my PWR major undoubtedly helped me to work with my manager within this realm, and collaborate with her in an effective manner. I also worked on a project with three of my fellow interns throughout the 10 weeks I was at Wiley. We worked together to develop a strategy for a new mobile application for the Global Education division at Wiley, and then put together a presentation to present in front of Wiley employees discussing the idea for our strategy. The presentation had to include certain details such as the value proposition, a SWOT analysis, a sales and marketing plan and a revenue model. I spent many lunch hours putting together this presentation with my fellow interns, and was so proud of the work we completed and presentation we put together. Our mobile application project reminded me much of my projects within my PWR classes. Collaborative skills are essential in our PWR course work, and there is no questioning that these skills transfer over to the work force in the strongest way. I found that I benefited so much from my practice working collaboratively, and I am so appreciative of this time.
My experience as an Editorial Intern for the Science, Technical, Medical and Scholarly journal division at Wiley is one that I will never forget. I am so appreciative of the time that I spent there, and all that I learned. Between the comfortable corporate culture, wonderful professionals and hands on experience, Wiley has confirmed my interest in the book publishing industry. My time spent at Wiley was enhanced by my studies within my Professional Writing and Rhetoric major, particularly with communication and collaboration. I am so thankful for my education and my internship, and I look forward to learning more about book publishing and growing as a professional in the future.
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