Student Q and A: Fae Patton

Friends and acquaintances of Fae Patton, an AU junior currently in the London enclave program, are familiar with her warm smile and charming demeanor. However, the literature major is also headstrong when it comes to forging a path towards her career goals. Last Monday, Patton landed an internship with Travel Intelligence, a UK-based website offering quality hotel accommodations. She described the experience of interviewing in the UK and what she hopes to get out of her internship.



Q. What was your initial reaction when you were notified of the internship placement by FIE? Was it what you expected?

F: I’m a literature major. I put journalism as my choice [when applying for the enclave internship program] and I had no idea what I was going to get. I interned at a publication company before and I edited there. So I’m happy that I will be doing that.

Q. How did you know editing was going to play a role in your internship?

F: I met with one of the FIE people who did the internship placement and she told me that I was hopefully going to be [editing]. When I interviewed, the man I interviewed with elaborated on that.

Q: What are you going to edit?

F: They give me pieces on hotels and sights for the website. I’m going to be editing over them and finding more information. The man in the interview told me that if I travel at all during the internship, they give interns an incentive to stay at a nice hotel if they write a review on it.

Q. How did you prepare for the internship after you learned about the placement from FIE?

F: They already had my resume or CV. I just went on the company’s website and read about them.

Q. How did this interview differ from the ones you’ve had before in the U.S.?

F: It was really different. Every other time I had an interview, it hadn’t been organized by a company. They already knew a lot about me. This was more of a discussion of what I was going to be doing. It wasn’t so competitive.

Q. How did your view or expectation of the company change from before the interview to after the interview?

F: It definitely did. The company seems really cool and laid back. A lot of people were wearing jeans and sneakers. The office was different than any office I’ve ever been in before. It was one big room with everyone’s desks in there. It seemed like more of a group effort than a boss and big office.

Q. How do you think this will help your career goals or your experience?

F: Well besides the practical experience with editing and publishing, it will be helpful to work in London and compare and contrast differences between the workplace here and in the U.S.

Q: Excited? Nervous?

F: I’m antsy but excited because it’s a good working environment