Top 3 Tips on Finding, Getting, and Using a Marketing Internship
Securing an internship is very competitive and it’s difficult to show some real experience on your CV when applying for your first internship. However, this article will provide you with tips that will help you feel a little more confident when applying to a Marketing Internship and what sort of experience you will expect during your internship.
I did a remote six-week Marketing and Communications internship with SUMS Consulting in August 2022 after I finished my first year. SUMS Consulting is an organisation with a passion for supporting the Higher Education sector. Everything they do is aimed at helping their university members and clients improve their performance and deliver more to their students, staff, and wider communities. As a first-generation student, I don’t have connections in the Marketing industry; this internship allowed me to network with many people working in the Marketing sector.
I study BSc Consumer Behaviour and Marketing with a Placement Year at the University of Reading. I did an internship before my second year started because I had to apply for placement roles in September and companies will be looking for skills and experience. This is a common student story, and work experiences are a helpful tool for upskilling your CV for applications, so use resources such as this to become more comfortable applying for and securing these opportunities.
1. Getting Started
Before applying I did not have experience working in the marketing sector. I began by looking at what experiences I needed to have in marketing as well as what skills the internship was looking for. I followed this up by completing online courses such as ‘The Fundamentals of Digital Marketing’ by Google Digital Garage, where I learned about SEO, analytics, and creating engaging content. I also completed the ‘Design and Branding Virtual Internship’ by the Forage, open to the public, where I did social media work and learned about brand communication. I spoke about these in my interview, and it showed my recruiter that I understood what they were looking for and I was passionate about my future in the industry.
Another thing you can do is volunteer in a marketing position on a committee or society at your university. I’m currently a Media and Marketing Coordinator for my university’s Raise and Give Committee and my role is to create content using Canva for their Instagram account and help in planning and organising fundraising events. You can also find volunteer Marketing and Social Media positions on LinkedIn Jobs.
Most Marketing Internships include blog writing so being a Blog Writer for FirstGens has been a great example of my written communication during interviews. I could include links to my work in applications and recruiters have mentioned they loved my blog piece. You can contact our editor at chloe@firstgens.co.uk if you would like to write a guest piece for FirstGens’ website, or you could explore other organisations offering similar opportunities.
Girls in Marketing have a three-day long Digital Marketing Internship programme, in partnership with monday.comand Adobe Express, that begins in September; anybody can partake and you will learn about digital marketing and social media strategies. It also includes competitions with rewards like designing an email campaign. Follow their LinkedIn to find out more.
Marketing has been a career interest of mine since Sixth Form and that is when I attended a Marketing & Advertising insight day at Ogilvy. I found this on Uptree which is a great resource for finding work experience events aimed at students that are 16-21. They work with leading companies such as Coca-Cola, Google, UBS, and more. During my insight day, I learned how to create a brand image and use psychological marketing. I worked in a team of six where we produced and presented a creative pitch of our innovative branding strategies to the other students and staff from the firm.
In addition, you can partake in Sookio Bootcamp aimed at individuals interested in a career in marketing, digital or creative who are students over 18 (they also offer work experience for younger students). This is a virtual event, and you will look at daily creative challenges in key areas such as copywriting and discover the skills you need, and the different routes taken to get into the industry.
Sookio Bootcamp is a week-long opportunity and will take place in August 2023, find out more here https://www.sookio.com.
2. Application process
After using some of the resources above to build up my CV, I found and applied to my internship at SUMS through the Reading Internship Scheme; this scheme offers University of Reading undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake 4, 6, or 8-week paid internships with professionals. My CV and cover letter were checked by my university’s careers service. When I was given an interview date, they asked me to send examples of my work, so I sent an essay and my artwork to show my written skills and creativity. Your university will likely have similar schemes and resources, so make sure to use all the tools available to you and look into how you can find help and guidance through application processes.
In my cover letter, I talked about how the organisation’s values aligned with mine and elaborated with examples of things I’ve done that matched their values. I also included what I liked about their organisation and what I was excited to learn from the description of the role – most things listed I had no experience in, but I mentioned what skills listed in the role I wanted to improve on and what I was keen on understanding. I also mentioned how I attended an insight day where I learned about marketing and what my degree in marketing taught me. Make sure to include similar content as above and personalise it to the company you’re applying to and the skills you have that are most relevant. Make it engaging and unique and ensure you end the letter stating that you’re looking forward to applying what you have learned to this specific role- put yourself in the frame!
During my interview, I spoke about a blog they worked on about mental health among students and mentioned how I have applied to a leadership position as a Well-being champion at my university to help students. Finding these links helps a good flow of dialogue, shows your interest in the organisations, and demonstrates how you would fit well into their culture. Personality is everything; my recruiter said what stood out about me was my ambition and interest in pursuing lots of different opportunities, explore your own interests so that you can show the same.
TargetJobs: ‘I’d rather take through a candidate who has a 2:2 but has been involved with student societies and had a part-time job than a candidate who has a first but has done nothing but study’, Emma Simpson, early careers talent partner at ISG.[1]
3. Internship experience
When I was offered the position, I reached out to a previous intern to ask how I can prepare for the internship and how their experience was; this helped ease my anxiety, gave me more information, and gave me a new connection for my network. Starting the internship, I was given a work plan - my role included creating videos on Canva, improving their website – for example summarising long paragraphs and moving things to different sections, and writing blog pieces which included using WordPress, SEO and copy editing.
Every Monday I would have an MS Teams meeting where we would all discuss what we will be working on during the week and every Friday we would have a hangout meeting to converse about the week and bond as a team. Although it was a remote internship, I spent the first week at the office. This was optional but I wanted to spend as much time with the previous intern as it was her last week – we went through my work plan and she helped me with some of the tasks and wrote me a contact list of whom I can speak with from the team about my projects.
Throughout the internship, I got a chance to speak with everybody on the team, including executives such as the CEO, to learn more about the organisation, their role and their journey to their position. During my internship, I spent most of my time working with the Marketing and Communications officer; she was my supervisor and would set what work I’ll be doing. She reviewed my work with helpful feedback and was always available if I had any questions.
From my own experiences, I would recommend using your work plans, meetings, peers, and colleagues to soak up as much information as you can about doing well and learning new skills. Keep your days organised in order to be successful with your tasks and impress the organisation, hopefully leading to future opportunities. In-person as an option is good to help you integrate into the team better and get a taste of office life. Take any opportunity you can to talk to higher-up individuals with lots of life experience in your field of interest. Build your network and connections throughout the work experience and stay in contact once you have left.
Lastly, don’t forget to enjoy yourself! Marketing is a very diverse field, including subfields such as social media, blogging, content creation etc. Doing an internship made me realise what I enjoyed working on the most and what career I possibly want to pursue after graduating. Keep your future in mind throughout and find your passion.
Good luck trailblazers!
[1] https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/university-life/why-extracurricular-activities-will-help-you-get-hired