My name is Drew Rhodes, and I was this summer’s Baer Performance Marketing “intern extraordinaire.” I attend St. Norbert College in De Pere. I am pursuing a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing and economics. I have three semesters left before I graduate. In that time, I will be playing football for the college and hope to develop new relationships that will help me achieve a full-time job. The past twelve weeks has been a great experience. As an intern for BPM, I helped with market research, created calendars for various media outlets, managed a creation of a logo, wrote blogs, and participated in meetings with new clients.
“A Priceless Experience”
Although this internship is not paid, it was a priceless experience for me. The lessons and relationships I have learned and made through this internship at BPM are very valuable moving forward in my life.
When I took this internship, I did not know what to expect. At first, I thought I would be doing donut and coffee runs on a daily basis as well as filing papers, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Within the first day I was put on a project which challenged my critical thinking, and it made me utilize what I have learned in school and apply it to the project at hand. I also was able to listen in on sales calls and conference calls to give me ideas on how I should be conducting myself when I talk to clients and other businesses. Good thing I listened and paid attention because during these twelve weeks communicating through emails and phone calls, I was able to successfully work with other businesses.
A lot of the projects involved market research. This was interesting to me because I had to think about the businesses’ products/services and who they would want to target–then organize that clearly in a document where it could be shared with the businesses.
Working at BPM opened my eyes to how many moving parts the marketing industry has. Each plan is different depending on each client. Because I was involved in so many tasks (rather than coffee runs), I believe that when I get a position in sales or marketing out of college, I will have a leg up, and I will know what is needed of me to be successful in that business.
A Stepping Stone In The Right Direction
I highly recommend taking an internship in college, because moving forward, I feel more comfortable with what I know, and most importantly, I know what this field expects from me to be successful. I am satisfied overall with how the internship played out. I met great people, learned so many insightful things, and developed real business relationships.
I encourage you to find an internship like BPM, because the transition from a classroom to a career will not be an easy one. I believe internships are stepping stones to a career you are passionate about, and these internships will help smooth over that transition and boost your confidence in your career. I have loved every second here, and I encourage anyone considering a marketing career to pursue an internship at BPM. You won’t regret it!
