Here’s an article from this month’s Company Magazine by Aaron Baer and Lara Eucalano. To understand how Baer Performance Marketing cultivates mutually beneficial relationships with its interns, read on.
What does an internship mean to you? As a student or a manager, many companies answer this question differently. I am fortunate enough to have had a very meaningful internship at the American Cancer Society in La Crosse. I 
have also been a part of a couple companies that undervalued interns by sending them to wash vehicles, fetch lunch for the office, or file and make copies. Granted, sometimes a “less desirable” job is going to be required of the interns. At BPM, I am adamant about giving our interns a very relevant workload. As Lara states below, our staff is always here for guidance, but I feel the best way to learn is to prepare to the best of your ability and jump right in to the task at hand! Some mistakes may be made, but that’s the learning experience. Lara will now give her side of the story:
I’m Lara Eucalano, the Social Media Community intern at Baer Performance Marketing. At BPM, I’ve had the opportunity to develop my writing and social media skills for the marketing industry. The “real” [non-intern] people at Baer give me both direction and a high degree of creative freedom and my fellow interns provide much-needed feedback on my writing. Essentially, I get to develop my own material as well as set and follow through on my own deadlines.
Doesn’t sound like your typical make-the-coffee internship, does it?
I can assure you, it’s not. I created and now maintain the Baer Performance Marketing blog on WordPress. I’m currently learning how to write compelling posts that will help Baer communicate effectively with both social media professionals and beginning users. Before I post, I do plenty of research about what’s going on in the world of social media to keep up with new trends.
My internship at Baer has taught me how to channel my writing abilities into social media to help facilitate conversations about brands, inform current and potential consumers, and develop fresh ideas for marketing campaigns. As a student, I don’t think my college experience would have been complete without an internship. To actually apply my education outside the classroom is incredibly beneficial. Because I work with two fellow interns as well as the rest of the Baer Performance Marketing team, I have also learned how to contribute to projects as part of a team. As we discovered in our marketing classes, “real-life” corporate projects are often collaborative.
I value the experience of my internship because it’s relevant to my professional development. As a student, an internship that offers me the opportunity to actually participate in creative development is worth so much more than an internship that would turn me into a glorified personal assistant. Here, I have the chance to learn, to take chances, and to gain valuable experience in a professional setting. Now, when I graduate, I have legitimate experience that will hopefully set me apart from the multitudes of other job applicants.
I wouldn’t trade my internship experience for anything. See, Baer has taught me to tell stories via social media. Stories have a unique power to change the way people think. See, people can relate to stories. When people relate, they learn. And when they learn, they share with friends. Isn’t that exactly the goal of social media marketing?
As a former intern and current manager of interns, I cannot stress the importance of hiring quality interns. However, make sure the tasks assigned fit the strengths and interests of the intern is critical in ensuring that both the student and the business get the most out of the internship. In the end, you will find that it’s great to work with young minds and learn from them just as much as they learn from us!
For more articles from Aaron in Company Magazine, click here.
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