Welcome to my first blog post! I wanted to share a little bit about myself and how I got to where I am today. I am a senior at Southern New Hampshire University majoring in business administration. The reason I chose this major three years ago was, because like every high school senior, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I did know that going into business would give me a lot more opportunities in different fields. I chose to complete a degree in three program at SNHU, where the university allows me to receive my Bachelor’s Degree in three years rather than four. As you can imagine this saved me a whole year of taking out student loans, which I am very thankful for. I am currently a marketing intern at CommonPlaces and I also interned at a staffing agency last semester.
Why I Chose to do an Internship
Unlike other degrees, business administration does not require students to have an internship upon graduation. I am not sure the reasoning behind this, but I do think there should be at least one internship experience required before graduation for better preparation entering the workforce. I personally decided on my own that I wanted to do at least two internships before graduating because I wanted the experience under my belt so that I would be better prepared when applying and interviewing for full time positions. Like I said before, I was not quite sure exactly what I saw myself being interested in doing for the rest of my life. My degree allowed me to get a feel of all different aspects of business and after taking the courses within marketing, accounting, IT and human resources; I developed a passion for marketing.
I went through the struggle of finding an internship the summer before my senior year. My career advisor was the biggest help in this process because we have developed a connection and she has been working with me since sophomore year. I was applying to internships through SNHU’s recruiting website and my advisor was sending me opportunities left and right. I started to panic because I was nervous I was not going to have any experience before graduating. It seemed like my world was crumbling after being denied and ignored from summer internship positions. I finally was able to get in contact with one staffing agency in Andover, Massachusetts. I did not know too much about staffing, but it seemed like my only option at this point. I got an offer for a fall internship with the agency as a recruiting intern. I was recruiting people for project positions; which I found to be very boring and something that I did not see myself doing for my career.
After finishing my fall internship, I knew I wanted to try something else out in the spring before graduating. I used the website handshake and talked to my advisor as a way to find other internships. After applying to a couple opportunities, I came across the CommonPlaces marketing internship. What stuck out to me the most about this opportunity, was the overall experience I would be getting from it. I reached out to Kristen about the opportunity after applying and she suggested a phone interview as the first step to the process. During this phone interview I explained what I was most looking forward to and what I was hoping to gain out of the experience. I immediately felt a connection with this company. After the phone interview, I knew the most important thing to do was follow up with Kristen in an email. Following up with an email is so important because you want to show interest for the company. After I sent this email, Kristen and I set up a formal interview at CommonPlaces. The interview went great and everything seemed like it was all fitting into place. I was happy to give Kristen my references because I wanted her to see the kind of person I am and where I could be. After speaking with my references, I got an offer from Kristen and I accepted with pleasure because I was excited about this opportunity.
What I have done at commonplaces
Throughout the past couple of weeks, I have already accomplished so much at CommonPlaces. I have been assigned tasks to be completed and have even sat in company meetings. One of the first tasks I was asked to complete was a competitive analysis. I learned about CommonPlaces competitors and was able to compare the companies to each other. The next task I was assigned was creating a marketing campaign for Commonplaces 20th anniversary. I helped come up with ideas that we could do for this accomplishment such as; videos from the CEO, thank you notes to customers and clients, and creating social media posts promoting the anniversary. I have learned a lot about HubSpot, where I was already able to get certified in Inbound Marketing. I plan on completing other certifications including email marketing and blog posts. I plan to help with marketing campaigns and writing future blog posts about marketing.
What I hope to learn at Commonplaces
I hope to learn more about Google Analytics and HubSpot certifications. I look forward to being able to certify myself in other areas where I then can put on my resume and LinkedIn. I hope to learn a lot about writing blog posts in marketing.