Dia yang Sudah Mau Menerimaku

Last week I went to this café I had been wanting to visit. It’s a medium-sized café with a lot of plants in it. Like, a lot. The moment you enter the café, the first thing you see will be the cashier who stands right in the middle of the place, together with baristas who work in the open kitchen located at the same place. Behind them, some seats are made available for customers who want to enjoy their drink while watching the coffee making process. On your left, you will see a long green sofa, stretched from the entrance to the end of the room. On your right, you will see some merchandises they sell, a huge coffee roaster, coffee storage, and some seats. This is where I sat. A tall round table that can only fit 2 seats. While enjoying my rather bland ice matcha latte (I know, the vibe was amazing, but my drink wasn’t), I also enjoyed the view in front of me. Their outdoor space. With all those green plants, gloomy sky, and relaxing evening breeze, the outdoor space looked so cozy (except for the fact that it was filled with cigarette smoke). Another interesting thing I noticed was that there were many people working there. Some young office employees, probably in their 20s, were using that space to WFC (Work from Café). With their drinks, earphone, and laptop. Some were also there with their colleagues. “Cool” I thought, “I also want to be a cool office worker”. Speaking of cool office worker, do you know that I am now a jobseeker? Yep, I graduated, Alhamdulillah (we’ll talk about that in the next blog post, tho). I’m currently looking for a job. And I’m sure everyone knows this, but this isn’t a smooth journey. However, I’m beyond grateful because I have some things to offer. Knowledge and skill I got from previous experiences. Precious experiences I’m so thankful for. ​One of these… is my first ever internship.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Social Connect.

It was in 2020 when I started actively looking for internship opportunities. My first 2 years of college I spent by participating in various organizations and event committees. No one told me that by that time, we had to start thinking about career (I know, my fault too, I didn’t ask). But then, I got exposed to this whole new world and I realized, “I have to start looking for internship opportunities”. However, it wasn’t easy.

For days, weeks, and months, I applied here and there with my CV that was only filled with organizational and event committee’s experiences (and I still didn’t know the right way to write CV). But I was either got rejected or ghosted. My friends made it to this and that company (and wow, when I was introduced to LinkedIn, the insecurities did kick in). Yet, I didn’t get accepted anywhere. 2021 came and still no result. January, February, March, and so on. I started to feel bad about myself. I started to ask, “why am I doing this? Am I doing this because I want to or am I doing this because other people do it? What if I’m not meant for this?”. I was lost. I even wrote a fiction based on this thought hahaha. I felt discouraged, but I kept going. And then, June came.

I got an interview invitation. It was a short HR interview, done through Whatsapp call. Not so long after, they invited me to do user interview and I was interviewed by 2 users. To be honest, I was sure that I would fail since there were some questions I couldn’t answer. But no no.

It was on June 29, 2021. I was in Ubud, Bali, eating nachos with my family, in this rice field view café. Didn’t expect anything when I suddenly got an email titled, “Pengumuman Aplikasi Unpaid Virtual Internship”.

I got accepted to Social Connect.

Buat ngasih gambaran sedikit tentang Social Connect, Social Connect adalah sebuah komunitas kesehatan mental terbesar di Indonesia. Social Connect membahas berbagai isu-isu yang berhubungan dengan kesehatan mental lewat media sosial, kampanye, webinar, dan kegiatan mereka yang lain. Kalian bisa cari tahu lebih banyak tentang kegiatan Social Connect lewat Instagram, LinkedIn, dan Web mereka.

Oke lanjut.

Later in July, I started my journey as Content Researcher Analyst Intern. Worked under Researcher Division in Medical and Research Department. A team that is so precious to me. That is why I’m not going to tell you about the work I did (you can check my LinkedIn page if you want to know about my jobdesc). Instead, I’m going to tell you about these people I met.

There were 6 of us. Four girls, one boy, and one team leader. My team leader, Kak Lauren, is an amazing person. She’s such a fun and outgoing person. She created this positive working environment full of smile and laughter. But she’s also very assertive and clear when she says something. It helped us to work better. I’m so grateful for her because I think it’s her personality that built the precious bond between the team members. Now, my teammates. Nada, Nurul, Caca, and Dias. Before our weekly meeting started, Kak Lauren would ask about how we were doing and that helped us get to know about each other more. We would also start to chat in group or privately, which made us feel more comfortable around each other. We would make jokes about noises we heard during online meeting, reveal kpop groups we stanned, and use unique virtual background. We worked and did our tasks, but instead of burdens, it felt like great times. But all great times must come to an end. And that’s how, 4 months after we started, we finally had to attend our graduation meeting.

Some of us left. Some of us stayed. But long story short, I was the only one from my team that remained and proceed to the next batch. That’s when I met my new team.

During the transition time between my previous team to my next team, I got to spend some times with the head of my department. Her name is Kak Raras. She’s a sweet person who’s also very smart and speaks eloquently. I’m so grateful I got to know her.

Then, I finally started my 2nd batch with a team led by Kak Fira. Fun fact: we figured out later that we came from the same faculty at the same university. Crazy, huh? We didn’t know each other before :D Kak Fira is also a wonderful person. I think she’s a diligent genius because I learned so many new insights from her. She’s also very active here and there, yet she’s still very helpful and very committed to the team. As for my teammates, there were Kak Anya, Kak Nayla, Kak Mutiara, and Kak Kia. During the first months, it was quite hard to get closer with my new team. My guess is because we rarely saw each other’s face. But during our last day (yup, you read it right, our LAST meeting), we had a very fun time together and I began to feel this connection with them. We had a great time. Sadly, I realized it to late. Because it was already my last day at Social Connect.

Dari Juli 2021 sampai April 2022, aku ada di Social Connect. Ya, 9 bulan. Aku belajar banyaaak banget. Baik itu pengetahuan atau keterampilan. Karena posisiku, aku jadi banyak belajar tentang media sosial, riset kompetitor dan tren, hingga muter otak buat ngerekomendasiin ide konten. Selain itu, tentunya, aku belajar tentang topik-topik kesehatan mental juga. Karena orang-orang yang aku temui, aku juga jadi belajar banyak tentang kerja kelompok. Ketua tim yang keren-keren itu juga bikin aku belajar tentang kepemimpinan. Lebih dari itu semua, aku pun bisa ketemu sama orang-orang hebat. Pemimpin. Rekan tim. Teman.

Until now, I believe my time in Social Connect is one of the most precious experiences during my college years. Social Connect is the first one to accept me as their intern. I applied to them months before and didn’t get accepted, but thankfully they finally did. Social Connect is the one that let me join them when no other companies, platforms, organizations, or whatever did. I can’t forget it. I still remember the time when I told my family that I got my first internship. I was SO HAPPY. My journey there ended months ago but I can still feel the impact until now.

All I want to say is, thank you Social Connect.

Whether it’s through your campaigns, contents, or by how you embrace lost souls like me, I hope you can continue create positive impacts. Or to transform the world to be happier. Just like your vision.

Now, I’m ready for my next journey.

Mr/Ms recruiter, contact me please :D