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Winter 2016


MY WORKING DAY My Working Day


The ideal internship as told by interns. Tariq Ward


Ali Proehl 2015 graduate of the University of Denver with a double major in Marketing and Sociology.


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li Proehl graduated in June of 2015 from the University of Denver


with a double major in Marketing and Sociology. Between her junior and senior years she interned near her hometown of San Diego for a company called Colorescience, which creates makeup with built-in sun protection. Proehl, who is now less than a year into her first professional position as a Digital Marketing Coordinator for Kinetek Sports in San Diego, performed a number of odd marketing jobs during her


Graduating from Syracuse University in May 2016 with a double major in Marketing and Business.


have a mentor who might spend just an hour or two each week to offer a general idea of what projects are coming up and the tasks that need to be completed. I was often saying, ‘Okay, I finished that. What do I do now?’” Tariq Ward obtained his


internship in Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) through the school’s job listings website. Ward, who will graduate from Syracuse in May 2016 with a double major in marketing and business


documents,” he says. “An internship with even the most prominent company can be ineffective if responsibilities aren’t given to the intern.” Understanding that, at


some companies, giving interns a great deal of accountability is a risky proposition, Ward thinks it’s important that the internship description matches closely what the everyday duties will actually be. Although he looked for an internship to help develop certain skills for the


“ An internship with even the most prominent company can be ineffective if responsibilities aren’t given to the intern.”


internship. “I researched competitor brands, ran contests and posted on social media, did some customer service, and created packages for makeup bloggers,” she says. “I would tell companies to make internships well-rounded, allowing us to help in different areas. It was great to do different things. I realized what I wanted to pursue moving forward.” Proehl found it valuable to be included in meetings, even if she didn’t say much, as it was a chance to see the steps that were taken to get to an end goal. She also learned that, in the real world, you don’t always get detailed direction. “In the first week they didn’t really know what to do with me. They didn’t really have a plan of how to utilize me,” the former collegiate lacrosse player says. “My recommendation would be to


management, looked closely at whether the job description matched his skill set and aligned with the type of role he’d like in the future. His internship responsibilities include promoting events for the office’s six programs, developing marketing techniques for acquisition and retention of first-year students, and serving as an ambassador between OMA and the campus and general community. Ward believes many students


seek out brand-name companies for internships, thinking it will appeal to future employers and that these companies may have the resources to pay interns. “It was important to me to find a situation where I wasn’t retrieving coffee, passing out mail, or shredding


future, Ward doesn’t believe an internship needs to exactly match the student’s career goal. “In a conversation with former Nickelodeon president Herb Scannell, I was told that he and many of his hiring managers appreciate diversity in skills and often look at an applicant’s experience outside of the job description,” Ward says. Like Proehl, he believes interns bring more to the table than companies might realize. “They can provide fresh perspective and insight on modern practices learned during recent college courses,” he says. “A college intern isn’t just


there for their résumé,” Proehl adds. “A lot of them know what they want to do. They are capable people and their goal is to learn.”


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WHERE TO FIND INTERNS


According to 12-year recruiting veteran Alan ecruit


Weatherbee, president of his own PR and advertising r


eatherbee, pres grecruit


tising ecruiting firm, Weatherbee


Talent Group, “Reaching college students where they are is the name of the game these days. One of those places is on Glassdoor, which is appealing to students because the site makes it easy to research companies and read employee reviews. Like LinkedIn, Glassdoor allows companies to build a branded platform. Unfortunately, many companies fail to brand their internship programs on both sites, missing an


opportunity to highlight whether it can lead to full-time opportunities, if it’s paid, and what the experience will be like. Similarly, many companies have nothing on their websites geared toward interns. Unlike most seasoned professionals, interns are coming into your company blind to the culture, and this is a chance to lay it all out for them. A number of universities do a great job with virtual career fairs as well. Like in marketing itself, creating content in the form of testimonials that deliver insight about your internship program is important. There’s plenty of demand on both sides, and the good news is that, as long as people find out where the supply is, it’s not as difficult as finding a job.”


CONNECT WITH YOUNG TALENT TODAY!


For posting or viewing internship opportunities, try these sites: • Internships.com • InternMatch.com • YouTern.com • LinkedIn.com • FindSpark.com • Idealist.com


A Marketing Intern View our Infographic at: modernlitho.com/InternInfo


15 Things To Know Before You Hire


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