My name is Meg Champagne and I have been a marketing intern at ETS for the past couple months while on summer vacation. With September just around the corner, I am about to head back to school for my senior year of college and wanted to reflect on how valuable (and fun!) my time has been here at ETS. Being an intern has not only given me real-world experience, but also has given me a better understanding of what I want to do after I graduate next spring.
As a marketing intern, my main job was to write blog posts and get them ready to go live on the website every week. I really enjoyed creating these posts, because it allowed me to strengthen my writing skills, be creative and start to understand on-page SEO best practices. It was so interesting to see how things worked behind the scenes on a website. From an outside perspective, it looks easy, but there are many steps that need to be taken before you can publish anything on a website.
While hard skills are certainly important, my internship helped me strengthen my soft skills, which are essential for career success. I became better at time management and gained a better work ethic, because I knew that there was a certain amount of things I needed to get done before it was time to leave. My internship showed me how productive I can be and I was surprised to find how much I could get done in a matter of hours! While I was consistently writing blog posts, a lot can happen in a busy workplace, and I had to be adaptable when plans would change. Whether it was making small changes to help the website reach more people, replying to company reviews online, crafting social media posts, or learning how to use industry platforms to create graphics, I had to be open to trying different things.
When I went into college as a freshman, I was undeclared and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. It’s difficult to know what you want to do four years from now when you’re 18 and you don’t have any experience. Even if you are interested in a specific career, you can’t actually know what it’s like until you start working. My internship helped me understand the dynamic of a professional workplace, as well as figure out what kind of career I would be the happiest in. I got to work with amazing people who were able to answer any questions I had. My months here at ETS have allowed me to grow and work on my communication skills, and the time I spent here has been immensely valuable. Ultimately, my internship helped me gain the confidence I need to start my senior year of college and prepare for my job search.
If you’ll be taking on an internship shortly, my advice to you is to always be friendly, work hard, be willing to learn something new and ask questions. Always ask questions.
About Meg:
Meg is from Plattsburgh, New York, and she is a senior at the University of New Hampshire. She is a text, business writing, and digital studies major, as well as a communication minor. She is also a member of the cross country and track teams.
