Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amber Brownlow, and I attend the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I am a Communication major with emphases in Organizational Communication, Public Relations, and Mass Media. I am graduating this semester and will be searching for a full-time job (wish me luck). For the past three months, I have been interning at Baer Performance Marketing as a Public Relations and Marketing Assistant. This means I created media lists, sent press releases, wrote web content, wrote for the weekly blog, created social media posting calendars, conducted market research, and I even helped with brand development. It certainly has been a journey.
I learned a lot while interning at BPM. Getting to intern at BPM was a lucky shot. I took a chance on something last-minute, and it just happened to be one of those times when I jumped on something that truly paid off. Since writing is a passion of mine, I fit right into my position here at BPM. My tasks were mainly writing-based, and I enjoyed tackling new challenges and producing content for real clients! I believe that just about every task I completed at BPM provided value as a learning experience that I can take with me into my career. For example, conducting market research was something I hadn’t done before that will prove useful, and I was also able to expand my writing skills. For example, before this internship I had no experience with writing web content or blog writing, and now I can confidently say I know how to complete those tasks when I get into my career. I also found out just how dynamic the marketing industry is from working at BPM and how much thought and analysis goes into the process of creating an effective marketing plan for a specific client (as their needs are all very different). If I get a position in marketing following graduation, I will be very glad that I learned how to complete so many different tasks while interning at BPM.
What can I take away from the experience? Something I really enjoyed while interning at BPM was being able to utilize what I have learned through my Communication major and apply it to marketing tasks. Even when I didn’t realize it, I was utilizing knowledge gained at school, and I think that showed me how much I have grown in the last four years and the things I am capable of. Working at BPM showed me where I can improve (writing a little more concisely at times), that marketing is something I am interested in pursuing after graduation, and most importantly, I learned that I can have more confidence in myself. I handled a lot of tasks pretty independently, and I did them well. Through this, I discovered the level of value I can provide to an organization, and that is a huge eye opener.
During my experience at BPM, I got to learn things I never could in the classroom, be a part of a new company culture, gather insight from people in the marketing industry, and produce materials worthy of real clients. I recommend that everyone take advantage of internships while in school. I can say with complete certainty that I would be one hundred times more nervous going out into the real world had I not had experience with internships in college.
You can learn a lot from those you work with. I never expected to get so much support and advice from my co-workers, or to learn as much as I did from them. They were honest with me about what to expect when I graduate, and offered bits of advice that would help me during my internship and after. It was truly amazing to be in an environment where I not only felt valued for my talents but was provided so much support and encouragement as a student and as a young professional. I think if I were to redo the internship, I would make sure to ask a lot more questions because I think we often underestimate how much we can learn from those around us.
My time here at Baer Performance Marketing is at an end, but the skills I gained here will stay with me into my professional life. I am so thankful I decided to come in for an interview and that I got my chance to intern here before I graduated. BPM is a great place to work, with wonderful people who are fun to be around and clearly know what they’re doing. Internships are truly the best way to get an inside look at an organization and how things work, and it was great to be a part of this company culture for a while. I learned a lot here, and I feel that this internship will help significantly with my transition from college to a career. BPM was able to provide me with an experience that makes me feel more confident heading out into the real world, and that is exactly what every intern hopes an internship will do. So thank you to everyone at BPM; I have enjoyed my time here, and I encourage current students thinking about going into marketing to consider interning at BPM.