Not all internships are fetching coffee and answering phones.

Jessica Lee, a senior in communication, is interning at Capstrat, a full service strategic communications firm. She said she gets to do the same thing the full-time employees do. She has even worked directly with a client, helping them create a brand for marketing.

“You actually are immersed into the culture,”Lee said. “You actually make contact with the clients… it’s a really great real world experience

In fact, Susan Katz, an associate professor and internship coordinator for the English department, said there have only been a few instances of coffee runs and secretarial duties in her time with the English internship program. And according to Katz, those students were abruptly reassigned to new internships.

“Students are required to work in some kind of organization for a total of 120 hours over the course of the semester and the work that they do there has to primarily involve some kind of writing or editing,” Katz said. “Students should be doing the same kinds of things as the people who work there.”

In addition to the intern hours, students are required to attend a class that meets once a week. For the course they read articles about workplace ethics, corporate culture and becoming socialized in their new environment.

“Students will write a reflection that connects their experience in the internship with what they’ve read,” Katz said. “In class we will talk about the articles, and we also talk about what students are actually doing in their internship.”

Greg Behr, an alumnus in English, said ENG 350 definitely helped him — the company he interned for last fall hired him full-time after graduation.

“I definitely credit a lot of my success with this job with my internship program at State,” Behr said. “It’s a great program to work with people your own age and figure out the best way to market yourself as an employee.”

Now a project coordinator at Capstrat, Behr is also the intern coordinator, and is currently overseeing the production of a book to help other interns and prospective employees.

“After seeing a bunch of different resumes that were just completely sub-par and awful it dawned on me that there should be more for students coming into this industry,” Behr said.

So Behr suggested creating a book that would do just that — help students coming into the professional world create resumes and portfolios as well as deal with the social differences of the workplace.

The book is currently in the development stages, and will have a total of five sections: resumes, portfolios, internships, weighing job offers and what do do in the first month of employment.

Each of the five sections will be written by one of the summer interns. After the interns have completed their sections at the end of the summer, the book will go into the design phases.

Lee is writing the portion that deals with how one should act during their first month at a new job. She said she chose that section because she wanted to learn more about it, and for the information she spoke to people within Capstrat, to get an employers point of view.

According to Behr, this inside scoop will give prospective employees tips “straight from the horses mouth,” and will help them feel more at ease coming into a new working environment.

Lee said the internship has helped her decide on public relations as a career. Before, she worked at a news station.

“I’ve really enjoyed public relations. I like it a lot better because you’re allowed to be a lot more creative than in the news room,” she said.

She also said her employers have been very supportive, and have been prompt with feedback and constructive critiques.

“The people who assign tasks and things to do, they tell us why we’re doing this and how it’s going to be used,” Lee said. “They’re really good about giving feedback. They will respond with comments and say ‘I would change this and here’s why.'”

According to Behr, the book will help current graduates, otherwise known as ‘generation y,’ acclimate into the workforce and find their own voice.

“There’s a lot of discussion surrounding generation y in the work place,” he said. “We encourage people to be creative and let their personality come out through the book. Your personality is absolutely integral to the hiring process of the job…there are things that just work. It’s almost kind of guidance from peers.”