Ben Hylen recently completed his internship with the City of Isanti. Here is what he had to say about the experience:
As my summer working as the Economic Development and Marketing Intern for the City of Isanti comes to a close, I can honestly say that I have had a positive experience and learned a lot about both myself and professional subjects. Under the direction of Economic Development Director Sean Sullivan, I have performed a variety of tasks, including writing various reports, drafting RFPs, developing marketing materials for the City, learning new technology programs, working collaboratively with co-workers, and presenting ideas both to Sean and the EDA Board. These tasks have helped me further develop my writing and communication skills and have given me a taste of working in a professional setting. This internship, being my first “professional” job, has taught me a lot about conducting myself and my work in a professional way, and I feel strongly that transparency of municipal government functions helps young professionals like myself develop a keen sense of professionalism. This applies to not only your actions, but your physical work like writings and presentations. I learned the importance of gauging and phrasing your work in vastly different ways when presenting to different audiences such as fellow City staff, superiors like the City Council and the Mayor, and to the public. An overall increase in my writing and communication skills has definitely taken place over the course of the summer.
While I could definitely see myself working in a governmental job during my professional career, I want to try out private sector professional work as well. As I have already mentioned, I have take huge strides while working for the City of Isanti in terms of practical knowledge and professional experience, however, I have also learned a lot about myself in this career exploration. I am excited to take this newfound knowledge from this experience into my upcoming junior year at Gustavus Adolphus College, and hopefully apply it in a different setting with a private sector internship next summer.
In summation, I am extremely grateful for having this opportunity working for the City of Isanti. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable and always willing to help me out with anything I needed. I believe this experience has helped me grow in a number of ways, and other future young professionals should consider applying for an internship with municipal government.