What it means to be a marketing intern at Marketing Eye

Over the years, our marketing internship program has grown and adapted. Like any company, you learn about the various stages in a marketing professionals’ career, different levels of competency and capabilities.

We have taken interns from all over the world including Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, United States, Canada, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand.

When a young marketer chooses to do an internship, they do so for various reasons:

• Use the marketing internship as a credit towards their degree
• Gain invaluable experience to add value towards the start of their career
• To understand what is involved in a marketing career
• To tick a box 

The latter is a more difficult internship as people that choose this path are typically not engaged in the process and therefore find it hard to learn from the experience.

This can sometimes also be the case in the first instance, but typically, those using it as a credit towards their degree understand that they need to do well, so they benefit from the practical experience.

For those who are seeking to catapult their learning and development capabilities, an internship is an incredible experience. With a thirst for learning, can-do attitude and positivity, interns with this mindset tend to jump into the deep end and start swimming.

Those who make the most of their internship:

• Take initiative to learn about the company before they start
• Look up online everything to do with marketing strategies, digital marketing, social media marketing, public relations and so on. 
• Ask questions of others in the industry, often reaching out to strangers on LinkedIn to ask for some advice.
• Connect with their future colleagues via LinkedIn before they start.
• Look up “marketing technologies” and benchmarking.

The first day on the job usually includes:

• Reading a manual on the company or internship program
• Becoming hooked-up on the tech stack that will be used during the internship
• Meeting colleagues and designated bosses
• Learning about what the internship will entail
• Jumping in the deep end!

The best interns get themselves into a “Day-One” internship mentality:

• They know they will be nervous so they think about encounters, conversations and circumstances that will make them nervous and prepare themselves for it beforehand.
• There will be a lot they don’t know, so they prepare themselves for feeling ‘not capable’.
• Fear will override them, but they know that this emotion is normal. It’s about moving from fear to excitement and positivity faster than what we would do in normal life.
• They write everything down, no matter how big or small.
• They ask a lot of questions before starting a task.
• Asking questions with timeframes and expectations is a bonus.
• They have practiced their content writing long before day one!

An internship is exciting and daunting – all at the same time. It’s often our mindset that determines whether we take advantage of an internship or become just a number. 

Connecting with colleagues and asking questions will make any intern standout and be memorable. If you are going to use your internship as experience on your CV, make sure everyone knows who you are.

Day one of an internship there is little expectation of you other than to show that you know how to listen, learn and take action. Do your best, and everything else will fall into place around that.