Table of ContentsIntroductionLessons from Being an InternExploring Social CapitalIntern Experience and Professional BehaviorStrategies for Developing Social CapitalConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionThis quarter, I had the unique opportunity to choose an organization and to gain intern experience to successfully complete a project or solve a business problem in an organization. I am finishing my internship at Salon Alchemika, owned by Terry Barnes. Terry's salon is unique in that she works with a third party, Green Circle Salons, to reduce and reuse salon waste, including used sheets, coloring tubes, extra hair coloring, glass, clippings. hair, paper and plastic. (Green Circle Salons, 2020)Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayLessons Learned From Being an InternAccording to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, salons fall under an industry called the “Internship Industry.” other services (except public administration). (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020) This internship allowed me to reflect on how my internship experiences relate to different dimensions of social capital and professionalism. This led me to think about how the norms in this industry are different than I had anticipated, as well as observe behaviors that have led to social capital development or underdevelopment. Additionally, it gave me the opportunity to analyze how these methods of building social capital would play out in another context. Finally, it allowed me to evaluate my own plan for building social capital with the remaining time of this internship.Exploring Social CapitalSocial capital is a complex concept and contains three dimensions, relational, cognitive and structural social capital. The relational aspect of social capital includes trust and norms and is directly linked to discourse. How we interact with our family, friends, and community members shapes our primary discourse. How we function in our primary speech in turn affects how we interact with others in secondary speech. In my case, it would be how I behave and communicate with the people in the show, including my sponsor. (Claridge, 2019)When I think about it, my speeches, being in the classroom in the BASAM program has impacted how I perform in my other current secondary speech, the living room. In this context, I adopted a more formal method of communication, dress and behavior due to the influence of my experiences in my secondary speech, being in the classroom. I noticed a link between the cognitive dimension of social capital and my internship. Also. In Terry's living room there is a plaque from the Bellingham Herald. It displays an article published in the Herald on the Alchemika show. The article explains how Terry's business focuses on being environmentally friendly and conscious of the waste produced by his salon. During one of our meetings, I asked my sponsor about the plaque and its history. She told me about her experience contacting the Bellingham Herald and the importance of the article. This relates to the cognitive dimension of social capital because at one point Terry had to categorize individuals in the Bellingham Herald as a group that cares about her efforts to reduce waste and be environmentally conscious.Experiment of the intern and professional behaviorMy experiences with this internship allowed me to see concrete examples of professional behavior in the workplace.work. Two examples of professional behaviors that I noticed during my internship occurred during my meetings with my sponsor. My internship sponsor demonstrated professional behavior by always respecting her commitments. My sponsor is the sole owner of their business and only employs one other stylist. She is extremely busy, but there has never been a time when she "flagged" upon meeting me. My context in this internship environment is a bit unusual because Terry is my personal stylist. Moving from the role of client to intern gave me a new perspective and got me thinking about how the norms in this context are different from what I expected. I noticed that the way my internship sponsor dresses is less casual than I expected. Often at other salons I've seen stylists wearing yoga pants and t-shirts and open-toed shoes. His demeanor and communication style with clients and colleagues is also more formal than I expected. This is something I admire about my internship sponsor, she has a quiet grace in her actions and maintains her professionalism at all times. Additionally, I expected her communication style and demeanor to be more relaxed and causal compared to other salons I have been to. Based on these observations, one change I want to make to adapt to this environment is to interact with my sponsor in a way that is more formal and professional. At first, it was a challenge for me to adapt to this new type of interaction with my godmother because I know her personally. At the same time, it was easy to adjust to because we both understand the broader implication of this project, being a college internship. To achieve this goal, I dress casually and arrive at our meeting from ten to three p.m. minutes in advance and have established a verbal agenda for our meetings beforehand. I provided a summary at the end of each visit stating where we are with the project, which includes what I need from her that week and what I will complete on my behalf. To further demonstrate my professionalism, I would like to outline the objectives of each meeting beforehand. My internship experience allowed me to be able to observe behaviors that led to the development or underdevelopment of social capital in this context. The first example of social capital development I observed during this internship was the relationship my sponsor has with the Mount Vernon Downtown Association. Terry works closely with the Mount Vernon Downtown Association, which sponsors events featuring her salons, such as the Ladies Night out Downtown Sip and Shop, Ladies Night Outdoor Prize, and the Sidewalk Sale. The second example of social capital development that I observed was the relationship Terry worked with Green Circle salons. Terry has a reciprocal relationship with Green Circle Salons, a salesman from the company regularly comes to collect waste from his salon. In return, Green Circle salons feature its salons in their green salon directory. An example of underdevelopment of social capital that I observed was my internship sponsor’s use of Instagram. During a few of our meetings, Terry told me that she found it less user-friendly to use Instagram for her social media marketing and that she preferred Facebook. This is because Instagram sometimes resizes and crops photos, so it can be difficult to display images on the platform. To me, this is an example of underdeveloped social capital, because Instagram is a great tool when you're trying to establish.