The Life of a Summer Intern at: RTC

Today is the first Monday in two months that I’ve been able to sleep past 6 am, and I’m a little sad about it.  My internship with RTC, a marketing agency in Washington, DC, just ended and I am already having some serious FOMO (fear of missing out). A relationship marketing agency with a wide range of clients and an awesome group of people, I learned so much and made so many connections in the short time I was there. I had heard of RTC my freshman year when our adviser, Professor Harms, put me in contact with their HR person, however I decided not to pursue an internship that summer. Then, RTC came back onto my radar when they presented at an AMA meeting last semester (See, those meetings are better for more than free food) and I was blown away by how great it sounded. I then got back in touch with their HR person and when I went in to interview with my soon-to-be boss, I felt so much more comfortable, because by hearing her speak, I knew so much more about the company and we had plenty to talk about.  I was part of the Insights and Innovation team, which evaluates and plans marketing strategies for clients. I worked on a wide range of projects, from client-specific consumer research, to compiling a creative competitive analysis, to creating infographics about applying new technologies to marketing to serve as education tools. From all this, I learned so much. Here are just a few things:

Write, write, write!
As a marketer, you need to be able to write. In marketing, and especially in an agency, you need to learn how to communicate your point of view in the most succinct way possible and sell your idea before you lose people’s attention. This is something I plan to work on this year by writing as much as possible, whether that be in a daily journal or blog, or offering to do the writing sections in group projects. In a lot of business schools’ curriculum, there isn’t much focus placed on writing, but if you get good at it now, it will save you a lot of hassle and red pen when you get a real job.

Speak up
If you have a special skill that could add additional value to your work, speak up and let your boss know! I was placed on a project to do research about mobile strategy with another intern. We were initially supposed to just create an outline, and then send it up to the creative team to make it into an infographic, but I asked if I could give it a shot instead, and I was able to use my graphic design skills to pull the create a much more visually pleasing way to present the information. Had I not let my boss know, I would have gotten the opportunity to use multiple skills and have a better deliverable in the end.

Get out of your cubicle
One of the things that made my internship the most fun was the people that I worked with. Although you want to be a dedicated worker, you also want to make sure to connect with the people around you. Make small talk with the people in the kitchen and take the time to get to know them. I was so excited to be around such experienced marketers and wanted to know how they got to where they are now. Most people are very interested in giving you career advice or just sharing their own stories with you if you take the time to ask questions. I learned a lot from the people above me and feel like I made some great connections that will benefit me in the future.


I could go on for way longer about all the great experiences I had at RTC and I really am sad to be leaving because I feel like there is so much more for me to learn. Plus, I'll really miss the Pad Thai from the place across the street...
Hopefully I'll return to RTC in the future to take advantage of those opportunities!

Calgon, Take Me Away!: Life of a Calgon Intern

         

   First of all, a series of very fortunate events led me to this internship. Being a freshman last year, it is generally a difficult task to find an internship your first summer after college, nonetheless a paid internship. However, my trip to New York with SUSA in the Fall, led to my discovery of terpAMA, which led to meeting a terpAMA board member who interned for Ilex Consumer Products Group last school year. When she told me Ilex was looking for a summer intern, I immediately pursued this opportunity. Long story short, network, network, NETWORK. Many employers are not apt to read a freshman’s resume unless you know someone!

            That being said, I couldn’t be happier with this internship. I work at Ilex Consumer Products Group, which is located in the warehouse at Orioles Stadium in Baltimore. Ilex Consumer Products Group is a private equity firm, which means that we invest in companies/brands in our case Calgon, St. Josephs, and Digel. I am a Marketing and Innovation intern for the Calgon brand. This brand is an older brand that currently targets the 35+ age group and is known for their slogan “Calgon, take me away.” This summer especially, the marketing team has been extremely busy innovating the brand to target younger age groups. Stay tuned next year for the new product launches---I can’t give out any secrets!

           

            I have learned more than I had ever imagined I would in a matter of 2 months so far. I have been involved in every step of product development starting with the concept, the research/competitor comparisons to support the concept, the Request for Quotes to retrieve pricing info from our suppliers, the Creative Service Requests to know the price of creating product designs, fragrance selection, and of course marketing strategy for our product lines. A recent project that our marketing team worked on was creating planograms to present to a potential buyer. We had to include competitor products and our existing/new products in a rendering of a 4ft shelf plan and 8ft shelf plan. I found this project extremely interesting because it was not a matter of what looks good, but really a matter of what past numbers and future forecasts show to ultimately determine what items we would discontinue, keep, or launch for 2013.

            Lastly, I manage Calgon’s social media. I have been trying to post every day on this page to keep our fans involved. I really have been leveraging our slogan by posting luxurious pictures of vacation getaways along with the words “Calgon, take me away!” This strategy has really boosted fan involvement. Another strategy is to offer frequent giveaways. These giveaways always result in an increase in page likes and page virality.

            As you can see, I could talk about this internship for hours on end because of how invaluable this experience has been thus far!

The Life of a Summer Intern at: Unilever

Two years ago I got a call that I never expected. It was a Friday morning, and in addition to frustrations of pulling an all-nighter, I was anxious about the verdict from my last interview two days before. Halfway through brushing my teeth, my phone rang and flashed a number that I knew could only have been from one possible person: the Unilever HR rep. Nervous, and with a toothbrush still in my hand, I answered - and 50 short seconds later, I was pleasantly surprised by an internship offer.

So much has happened during my summers with Unilever since then, and I’ve had an amazing experience! Last year, I was working close to the Walmart headquarters in Arkansas – a pleasantly surprising state by the way – in Customer Development. I was asked to build a digitized tool to help us track “incremental retail,” essentially any sales above and beyond what we expected to make. The problem? I’d had ZERO programming experience before. So initially, I was worried, but Unilever enrolled me in a Microsoft Access class (way more beneficial than BMGT301) that really took my project forward, and that’s one of the best things about working for this company: they believe in making investments in their employees. In retrospect, it was just what I needed out of an internship – the opportunity to get completely out of my comfort zone and use both critical thinking and technical skills to create something meaningful. My only issue? I wish I’d been 21 and had a car – it’s hard to do anything in Rogers, Arkansas otherwise…

When I got an offer to come back, I hesitated; CD had been interesting, but I honestly just wanted to be in marketing. Nervous as I was about their reaction, I asked Unilever to transfer me – and they did. That was a huge learning experience: in my opinion, so long as you have a good reason for asking something of your company, absolutely do it, because you may regret it if you don’t. Now, I’m working in Brand Development (in marketing) for a really exciting product: Suave Kids! Essentially, I have to develop a long-term strategy to help us gain market share. Since my other internship and class experiences have always focused on short-term deliverables, this is still out of my comfort zone, but it’s exciting nonetheless. I’ve gotten a chance to work on everything from licensing to product innovation to sustainability, and along the road, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Ogilvy, conduct my own focus group, and plan an event for all of the interns. At a company as large as Unilever, you’ll obviously have to be patient with all of the intricate processes involved in decision-making, but if you create work for yourself even when it isn’t mandatory, people will notice it and appreciate it.

             As this is my last “internable” (word?) summer, I’m definitely hoping for a full-time offer with Unilever, ideally in marketing. Hope it works out! Feel free to email me at manas.kulkarni.91@gmail.com if you have any questions about it – I’d be happy to answer! 

Job Searching Lessons From The Unemployed Senior

As a marketing student looking for a job once I graduate, I understand how frustrating it can be to land a good job in marketing. Although I haven't actually gotten a job yet, I thought I'd share some of the lessons I learned during this process. 

1. Network, Network, Network!


"It's not about what you know or who you know. It's about who knows you" - some dude I met

Networking is the most underutilized form of  job searching. Employers are simply looking to hire good people, and the more employers you meet and get to know, the better chance you will have at landing a good job. 

• The Smith School offers information sessions for many companies. Attend any of them that have the slightest interest to you. Meet the speakers, get their business cards, follow-up and connect with them on LinkedIn. 
• The NYC SUSA trip, (happens every fall), is the best chance to meet    employers from the New York City area. The marketing group visits top advertising agencies  every year and for those of us looking to work in NYC there is no better opportunity to network with NYC employers.
• terpAMA and other student organizations have professional events for students to connect with employers on a weekly basis. Attend these events and meet these professionals even if they are not hiring! 

Always remember, even if you don't want to work for a certain employer networking with them is still beneficial because you never know who they know. It's a small world. 

2. Use Resources

As students we have a variety of resources at our finger tips. Believe it or not I actually got an interview after using talentzoo, a job search website specifically for marketers. Other similar websites include TalentWorks and the AMA Job Board. 

• Professors: They actually want to help you. The better job you get, the better they look. So, ask your Professors to help connect you with potential employers...they know people too. 
• A friend of mine actually uses other schools job search platforms to look for jobs. So, ask your friends from other schools to let you use their login information to look for jobs offered at their schools. This can be very beneficial especially if your looking to work somewhere other than the Washington, D.C. area.
•  In order to combat the thousands of people that apply online I used LinkedIn to obtain the email of HR managers at companies I wanted to work for. It does take some time because you have to figure out what the company's email structure is to figure our their email, but it is well worth it. 

3. Get Involved

Getting involved in student organizations also has boundless benefits. An interview I had last week was set up by one of my fraternity brothers. He knew someone that worked in Advertising in NYC and got me an interview. 

There are many organizations within the business school and beyond to get involved in, and they do help you during your job search. This is especially important for some of the underclassmen that may not have that internship experience.

Lastly, this process can be frustrating and it is easy to lose motivation fast. At times you will feel like you hit a wall and have no hope.Those walls are for the people who don't really want it as bad as you and the more walls you climb, the more likely  you are to succeed. 

For those of us lacking motivation...

Succeeding in the Business World

Summer time is around the corner and apart from all the sleeping, movie-watching, and beach trips there is one thing that is on everyone’s mind….summer internships.  Getting into the business world is tough and requires stacking up quality work experience, usually done during the “break” called summer.  We all hear about different ways to find good opportunities, go to workshops to work on resumes, and interview advice coming from literally everyone you meet.  But after passing through all those steps (congratulations!) the guidance goes away and you are on your own trying to figure out how to act friendly in a professionally acceptable way.   It’s important to impress your supervisors and be remembered at work, but how?

Have no fear; ‘Business Etiquette: 5 Rules That Matter Now’ gives basic advice on what to remember when thinking about how to act in the professional world.   These simple yet important rules can make the difference between you and your buddy co-worker on the next desk over, and can possibly land you a future upper level job just because of your socially acceptable performance.  Remembering every worker’s name and turning off cell phones (not just switching on vibrate) during meetings can have a huge impact on how people higher up perceive you and put frankly, how much they like you as an intern.  Check out the rest of the article for the other rules on how to impress this summer! So flash those pearly whites, whip out those firm hand-shakes and suit up for the summer time.