Armed and Ready for the Real World

Written by ls2group

Anyone and everyone from professors, advisors, friends, and even your parents will try to give you advice about internships. I find myself close to ending my seven-month marketing internship with LS2group. As I prepare to graduate and take on the real world, I look back on the value of my internship experience and reflect on what I learned. I know I will carry a lot with me to my future jobs and throughout my career.

Keep an open mind. As an apparel merchandising and marketing student at Iowa State University, I never pictured myself landing an internship at a firm heavily rooted in public relations, public affairs, and government affairs. However, the opportunity with the marketing team presented itself and I jumped, and I’m sure glad I did. I initially felt out of my element and hesitant not knowing much about politics, but they said, “You’ll learn,” and I did.

On my first day, I walked in nervous but excited, even arriving 30 minutes early but waiting in my car for the building door to unlock at a prompt 8 o’clock. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I needed to be polite, stay professional, and most importantly listen. About an hour into the day, the entire company went into a weekly staff meeting where everyone gives updates on projects. As employees quickly presented their projects, and I found myself unaware of a majority of the industry jargon I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” The initial confusion and hesitation have since worn off, but it taught me to challenge myself and jump into situations that are normally out of my comfort zone.

Be resourceful. Within the marketing department, I quickly realized political knowledge was less critical to succeed. However, I still had a lot to learn. I was assigned to social media accounts and it was imperative to know what was happening in that industry. Needless to say, Google searches and Google Alerts quickly became my best friend!

As an intern at LS2group, you are a valued team member. Working in a fast paced environment like LS2group, it is important to ask questions and show interest in what the task is. Being resourceful portrays initiative, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

Time management. Working as a part-time intern, my time in the workplace was limited, so it was important to utilize my time wisely and be efficient. Being resourceful is great, but I learned not to sacrifice efficiency to figure something out on my own. The marketing team (like everyone else in the office) was more than happy to help and answer any questions.

In order to gain the most from my experience, I wanted to work on as much of a variety of projects that I could. Balancing multiple projects from co-workers with various deadlines taught me the importance of prioritizing, organization, and time management.

Communication is key. It is as much true as it is a cliché. Communication is practiced all day, every day. It couldn’t be any more a part of our lives than blinking and breathing. I found it key to continuously be in communication with my team to let them know what I was working on to stay in the loop on clients and their projects. Continual practice of my communication skills has only benefited my personal and professional life.

As sad as I am walking away from my internship at LS2group, I value the skills I have learned. I am excited to know I will enter the working world armed with real-world experience gained through my time with LS2group.