Emily Perez, a senior writing studies major with a minor in theater, was an intern at TrackFive, a company that works to streamline recruiting and the connections between employers and talent. Read more about her experiences below!
My first go around with an internship was anything but what I had initially expected. I didn’t work in an office and my work didn’t use any of the skills that I had been studying for the first three years of my college career. So, it is an understatement to say that I was a little weary coming into my second internship.
At the interview, I had to admit that I didn’t know how to do SEO (search engine optimization), or how to use WordPress, both of which were mentioned to be a large part of the internship. All I could continually say to the interviewer was that I am a “quick study” and eager to learn.
Leaving that interview, I was convinced that I was going to have to find myself another internship opportunity, but to my surprise, I was wrong. Ms. Colebeck (now Mrs. Ozella), the internship mentor at TrackFive, happily informed me that I got the position and that they were eager to teach me all that they could; looks like my comments and confidence as a speedy learner worked after all.
Turns out that learning is exactly what I would be doing for the entirety of my internship, even up until my last week with them. During my time at TrackFive, I learned an immense amount of information pertaining to my field of writing, specifically content writing for different brands with different styles and voices. I was taught how to optimize a keyword (SEO: Search Engine optimization) in the first week of my internship, but I can already see that I will be learning about this throughout the entirety of my career as it is constantly changing with the times. I was also shown how to write with the company’s blog style and voice for each different brand, which included Travel Nurse Source, All Truck Jobs, Allied Travel Careers, Locum Tenens Online, All Physician Jobs, and Senior Caring. Just by the names of each brand, it is easy to see that I had a wide variety of audiences to write to, each one dealing with its own voice.
Along with writing blog posts for the brands, I also had to learn how to write social media posts, which also entailed learning how to use SEMrush and Hootsuite, two popular social media scheduling programs. Again, learning seemed to be the theme of this internship, but I was completely willing to learn and apply all that I was taking in.
Lastly, the internship allowed me to learn a few skills that I didn’t think I would ever need in a job in my field. These included video hosting, podcast transcription writing, and social media interactions. Though these are tasks that I thought would never be a part of a job that I would have, they have given me valuable skills that I can integrate into the work that I do in the future, such as verbal confidence, close listening and quick typing, and an ability to be conversational with complete strangers.
Overall, the internship that I thought I wouldn’t get because of my lack of experience and knowledge of my field, actually ended up putting me on track for the career that I will have in the future. Though I may not have come in with all of the experience of the other candidates, I came in with the confidence that I could learn the skills needed and showed that I was eager to learn whatever they threw my way with grace and ease.
Now, I really do have the knowledge, experience, and skills to successfully transition into my next internship and full-time job with WebFX, an online marketing company where I will be doing content writing, similar to my internship with TrackFive. And so, my experience with TrackFive served to show that an eagerness to learn can land you an opportunity that will put you on the right track for your future endeavors and develop you further as a valuable employee.
-Emily Perez