As the first day of my summer internship at Indium Corporation approached, I had no idea that a personality quiz would become the key to understanding both myself and the team around me.
I always thought internships were about gaining work experience, but my first few days at Indium taught me that they’re just as much about discovering who you are and how you connect with others.
Before we started our internship, we were assigned one last task to complete. Lo and behold, the CliftonStrengths Top 5-character quiz appeared in our email, waiting to be taken. The CliftonStrengths assessment is designed to identify someone’s strengths out of 34 possible themes. They explained to us interns that, if we could understand our unique talents, we could use them to our advantage as we prepare for the workforce. So, we took the test. My top five strengths were Woo, Communication, Arranger, Includer, and Input.
“Woo” means I enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and extending the first handshake. “Communication” means I’m a good conversationalist and presenter (and not to toot my own horn, but I’d like to think I’m pretty good at those things). “Arranger” means I like to organize things, but I can also be flexible with how things are run, even if it’s not my first choice for how to do something. “Includer” was my fourth trait, meaning I like to accept others and, well, I enjoy including people. I try to make sure no one feels left out. Lastly, I got “Input”, which mainly means I enjoy collecting ideas, information, and even relationships. I’m not really sure how I got that answer, but I’ll let you know when I come back to it.
After learning these, I was placed into the influencing category, which means most of my strengths help me take charge, speak up, and make sure others are heard. The other categories are executing, relationship building, and strategic thinking.
At this “Lunch N’ Learn,” we learned about each other’s top strengths. One of my fellow intern friends, Finn, had three out of five of the same character strengths. While my top two were Woo and Communication, those were his second and third strengths. He also had Includer as one of his strengths. It made sense why we clicked quickly; our strengths aligned in many ways. Finn is naturally outgoing and has no problem starting conversations with new people. His ability to engage with others and keep a conversation going made it easy for us to connect.
Then there’s Frank, who is also a fellow Bonnie (Did I mention that I go to St. Bonaventure?). Frank and I have known each other for a while, having crossed paths at school. It wasn’t a surprise when we ended up in similar internship roles. While Frank’s strengths were a bit different from mine, we still share a lot of common ground in terms of valuing connection and inclusivity. I noticed Frank has no hesitation in initiating conversations; he was one of the first to shake hands with everyone during orientation, which is a classic example of someone who gets things started.
Both Finn and Frank ended up in the same category as me, and it was clear from the start why we worked well together. The way our strengths aligned meant we had no trouble communicating and getting things done as a team.
First, we went around to different people in our intern cohort and talked about our favorite and least favorite strengths. My favorite one was Includer, because, as I mentioned, I really enjoy making sure people are included. No one deserves to feel left out. I’m glad someone (even a computer program) recognizes how I like to uplift others.
But not all the interns thought the same. One of the interns, Elise, said her favorite strength was Development. Not only does she like to develop things and ideas (she’s a very intelligent, science-minded person), but she also enjoys seeing people develop.
Anyway, later on, we got separated into our main categories: executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. The executing group consisted of people who help make things happen. The influencing group was made up of people with strengths that take charge, speak up, and make sure others are heard. Relationship building consisted of people who focus on building strong relationships and holding a team together. Strategic thinking is self-explanatory: they excel at absorbing and analyzing information to make the best decisions for the best outcome.
I was placed in the influencing group.
Can you guess who else was in the Influencing group? Finn and Frank. Shocker, right? We are now the self-proclaimed “Woo Crew”. I gave us the name, and even though one of Frank’s character strengths wasn’t Woo, he went around and shook everyone’s hands on our first day—one of the main characteristics of Woo: always the first to extend the handshake.
After chatting for a bit, all four groups had to explain why their category is the best, or why it’s more essential for humans than the others. We said influencing makes the world go round. Think about it: everything is influenced. Some of the biggest decisions ever made were the result of influence or an idea that influenced the outcome.
We also related it to the idea that influence is power. Take medieval times, for example. Someone who had different ideas from the King had the power to influence people to think differently. Back then, monarchies needed to control their people and make them think in a certain way in order to remain in power. Influence is power. That was our case.
Before we even had a chance to share our thoughts, the executing group went first. They said they were the group that actually gets things done. One girl pointed to the strategic thinking group and said, “You guys are the group that thinks about doing something.” Then she pointed to us and said, “You guys just talk about what you’re going to do.” Finally, she pointed to the relationship building group and said, “And you guys just care about people’s feelings.”
We were all like, “Woah.”
She didn’t mean it out of spite. There was a joking tone in her words. And, from her perspective, I can see how she would think that. But after we explained our case and everyone talked about how their personalities matched the group they were in, everyone agreed it was pretty obvious that the three of us (Frank, Finn, and I) were perfectly matched.
Frank and I have been friends throughout our time at Bonaventure, and now we’re just bringing that friendship to the office. And now with Finn added, we needed an official name. It makes sense why I labeled us the “Woo Crew.” I always joke that you can tell Frank, Finn, and I are the personality hires. We’re here to bring the group together.
Obviously, some people aren’t as social or willing to make the first move as we are. And that’s okay. That’s what we’re here for. We’re all in the same boat—getting our foot in the door, trying to make a good first impression, and making a few friends along the way.
I’m excited to get to know the other interns and my colleagues more. It’s only been a couple of days, but I’m hopeful and excited to continue this journey. I think I’m really going to like it here.