I thought I had my Summer 2020 planned out. I was going to travel to different countries like Japan, Mexico, and China with my family and friends. When the global pandemic hit, I had to change and cancel my plans. I had no idea what to do during Summer, so I decided to look for internships to stay productive.
I connected with a USC alumnus from my country, and he provided me with an opportunity to work in his start-up media agency -- Ambidexter. I found it very interesting to work for a start-up company with a relatively flat organizational structure. I’m here to share my experience and provide a description of the work I did as a marketing and business development intern.
A marketing intern reaches out and contacts potential clients. I created presentations on how we might improve a client’s overall media presence. This included writing potential social media posts and articles for media releases. I presented it to my coworkers, did some edits, then presented it to clients.
Business development interns help develop or improve service lines. I helped develop a new service line based on behavioral economics. We created content called nudges that encourage employees to become more productive and have a more positive attitude. A simple example would be an email reminder to employees to take a break. My task was to create nudges and figure out how we can best sell this service to potential clients.
The skills needed for this internship are:
- Communication
- Determination
- Creativity
Communication
Ambidextr is a start-up that uses a flat organizational structure. This means that leadership and employees work hand in hand with no middleman. I constantly updated and collaborated with superiors to align our ideas. Communication skills are important to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks. Interns also work directly with clients. I presented my marketing plans to clients and asked for feedback on what they think we need to change or improve. It is important to carefully listen to clients to understand their wants, needs, and creative direction.
Determination
Clients do not always reply or take long to do so. I had to stay positive and patient because business professionals often take a few days or weeks to reply. Some clients have a lot of comments and points for improvement. It takes determination and a positive attitude to stay motivated even when there is a lot of edits and back and forth with the client.
Creativity
Creating content requires a lot of creativity. I had to think outside the box and consider things that the client has never done before. I considered the previous advertisements of the client and thought of ways to change direction or improve on the current advertisements. I also had to be creative with the nudges because sending the same nudges every day can be boring and ineffective.
Flesch Reading Ease: 54.7
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.0
Passive Sentences: 0.0%
This sounds like it was a great experience! Often times it's in organization settings like Ambidexter's that allows interns to grow and learn as much as possible. It seems like you had a lot of exposure to numerous opportunities that other more established companies may not have prioritized. Hope it was a fruitful experience!
ReplyDeleteThis is extremely interesting. Staying positive and helping other employees stay positive is super important to a healthy work environment. This sounds like a super productive job!
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear that you had big plans for last summer too, I had also planned on travel a bunch and have been devastated that will be the last to come back for myself. But it is super inspiring and fascinating to hear about your journey after the pandemic hit, I'm very impressed that you were able to scrap together an internship at the last minute/or at least when you had planned for something completely different. I know you will get to travel again some time in the future, and this internship seems like it was a very valuable experience that only helped you grow your business skills, so I think you can appreciate it as a silver lining.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, that sounds like a great opppurtunity that you had for the summer. I have wanted to work at a start up but I could not find one for the summer. I like how you outlined your position in terms of the skills rather than the work that you do. It seems like you achieved a array of skills and made use of the summer.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly! This sounds like it was a really great, well-rounded experience! It was really interesting to hear about all of the different responsibilities you had.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, I am happy for you that you could find something to do during last summer. My travel plans in 2020 were also cancelled because of COVID. For the job description, I really like the part of determination especially feel resonated when you said that clients would want to see lots of edition while we have already edited many times. I think it is quite important to stay determined and explained to your client with your ideas sometimes it would work.
ReplyDeleteKelly, I echo the sentiments of your classmates above. One of the best lessons a person could learn from the changes Covid forced upon us all was to stay positive. Good to hear that was built into your internship. Each of your sections -- communication, determination, and creativity -- would have benefited from an anecdote that illustrated, for example, soliciting feedback and how listening changed your approach, or a story about how staying positive paid off in the long run. Regardless, good work!
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