5 Lessons I Learned From Not Getting the Internship I Planned For
And should you still go for a good opportunity, even if it wasn't planned?
Internship planning. I’d looked forward to it ever since I set my mind on being an advertising copywriter.
It was also something I wanted to be very, very careful about, based on years of observing my older orgmates take it on - sometimes, alongside their other subjects and thesis writing!
But I decided I wanted to focus on internship separately, and I was going to knock it out of the park, starting with deciding where to go.
If you’re a planner like me, and are about to take an internship soon, keep reading. This one’s for you.
A super-old photo of some docs from my internship days. This was before I had a proper smartphone - I was borrowing my mom’s.
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Soon, I was looking up resume templates and ad agency directories. I was determined to get an internship as a copywriter at some fancy ad agency, like Ogilvy or Leo Burnett. Or if not, at least a local shop that was getting a lot of buzz in industry circles - some place that you could find in Adobo Magazine.
Either was fine with me, as long as I got to write.
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After email and calling dozens of ad agencies, I ended up with a lead to an Accounts position at Publicis JimenezBasic (PJB), which happened to be one of the local branches of a multinational company!
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Time was running out for the 150 hours I had to render in 6 weeks. I jumped at the chance and was placed with 5 other girls under a super-cool, kind, and helpful supervisor, Ms. Shai.
So, in the spirit of internship logs, here are 5 things I learned from working as an Accounts intern with a big ad agency.
Cultural immersion is a big part of life as an intern.
A lot of what we did as interns involved observing, going around the Makati area, and getting used to the dreadful commutes and staying late (to get our hours in on time). It was nice to explore the Ayala area on foot, especially the Dela Rosa walkway. Funnily enough, one of my future offices was located in the neighborhood of PJB.
Since I went with my parents to and from the office most of the time, I also got a peek into their lives, working in Makati and living in Quezon City. (Wouldn’t recommend it now, though).
We interns got to observe a video shoot at one of the many malls nearby, and it was there that I got my first taste of Kumori! And it remains one of my fave brands until today.
(Again, pic taken on an old smartphone.)
I also got to observe the lifestyles of the full-time workers. I'd take notes on dress code in the agency, how they'd interact with each other. I’d say the culture shock was way less when I started working, thanks to this internship.
There may come a point in your job applications when your internship is about as relevant as your General Weighted Average (GWA)…aka, it isn’t.
I’m not sure if this applies my case only, since my internship had no copywriting involved. Or if it’s because it was ages ago. But eventually, having to explain to the excited interviewer that you were only at the big sparkly ad agency for 2 months, no you didn’t meet so-and-so, and no you weren’t asked to write copy… gets old.
The network you make as an intern will come in handy.
I’m still in touch with my co-interns at the time. One of them was a college batchmate who is now quite a hotshot in client servicing. One ended up working as a freelance Art Director for a big agency and then going abroad. The other three are in various ad agencies, working Creatives jobs. A great thing about having a “big” batch of co-interns is that it’s nice to get to interact with people from other schools who have the same goals as you!
Calculated risks may benefit your career later on.
Now, I’m not saying here that I wish I had risked my internship hours deadline and waited for something better to come along. I don’t regret going with the internship I had. But I do think that I might have gotten a head start on a copywriting career, had I chosen differently.
Whether you’re going for a big or small agency, you should know what you’re looking for.
In a nutshell, yeah, internship is one of my “what if’s” in life, that I do tend to brush away until the next job interview, haha!
But if you or someone you know is about to take on an internship, this list might help them decide. So don’t be shy - share this post with that friend. And maybe tell them to subscribe, too. 😁