When I was applying for internships last September, my biggest fear was finding an internship that I hated. I was scared that the only responsibilities I would be given would be delivering coffees and doing busywork that nobody else wanted to do. Looking back now, I can’t believe I thought an internship at Burkhart would ever come close to that. My Burkhart internship is so much more than just work experience for my resume. It has provided me real world experience, helped with character building, aided in developing new skills and given me mentors.
I cannot even begin to explain how lucky I feel to have had the opportunity to be part of Team Burkhart this semester. Burkhart Marketing Partners is not just a marketing firm, they are a family. Since my first day in January, I have felt welcomed into the family. Each member of the team has made me feel like a real co-worker, not just a temporary intern. They have provided me with priceless career and life advice that I will never forget.
Burkhart Provides Independence
An element of the internship that was more vital than I thought it would be was independence. I was never hovered over or micromanaged in any task. It was always very clear what needed to get done each week. When they were finished, I was provided constructive criticism that helped me grow and do better on my next task. I never stayed stagnant with my responsibilities as an intern. My supervisor, Hope Colclazier Bever, helped me grow throughout the internship. As I became more efficient and experienced with my work, it was recognized and I was given more freedom and responsibilities. I grew from being assigned social posts to create, to building the monthly social calendar, assigning posts and then creating the ones I assigned myself.
Real, Diverse Experience
I was never limited at Burkhart, I always had a wide range of tasks that kept me stimulated and engaged. At first, they eased me in with Burkhart’s social content, and then I evolved to working on client work. Having the opportunity to help with client work was incredible; it showed me how much variety there is when working at a marketing firm. Each company that Burkhart partners with is unique and has different marketing needs that I learned to adapt to. Working with a variety of clients kept work interesting.
My favorite client that I had the opportunity to work with was an online farmer’s market. They help small businesses, local farmers and artisans sell and deliver their products. The other interns and I were tasked to write short blogs highlighting different vendors and how the client has helped them. It was fun to learn about each small business and hear about their personal success stories and how passionate they are about their products. Hearing how passionate the vendors are made me passionate about them as well and made me write better blogs.
Finding New Passions and Growing Old Ones
Coming into working with Burkhart I already knew I was interested in social media marketing. I have been active on social media since 6th grade when I first made my Instagram account. This eventually grew to Pinterest, Twitter, Snapchat, Vine which evolved into Tik Tok, Facebook and even LinkedIn once I reached college. So, pursuing a career that involves social media just made sense. I was familiar with it – I enjoyed it, and I wanted to learn more about it. At Burkhart, I have learned how to utilize social media as a tool for marketing; it is so much more diverse than I ever knew. Through putting together monthly social reports, I’ve seen how certain styles of posts will attract more attention than others and how posting at certain times of day will affect how large of an audience it attracts.
An element of the internship that surprised me was blogging. I have to admit, it took me a little bit to get used to blog writing style. In my three years of college, I have been conditioned to a certain formal, business style. That style is the polar opposite of writing a blog. While blogging, I can use conjunctions, be personal, write in my voice and share my thoughts. Business writing is formal, no conjunctions, all facts and sources, straight to the point and no personal thoughts and opinions. While adapting to this new writing style, my supervisor and fellow interns were extremely helpful with constructive criticism. They were always giving me advice and helping me become a better writer. Once I got used to it, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed blogging. I’ve had the opportunity to blog about a range of subjects within the marketing world and have learned so much from them. There were many subjects I wrote blogs about that I didn’t have previous experience with. Such as SEO, KPI’s, link building, email marketing and digital signage. While researching topics to be able to write a well-informed blog, I gained knowledge that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t write the blog.
Wrapping Up My Time at Burkhart
I hope that by now I have gotten my point across. Interning for Burkhart Marketing Partners has taught me more this semester than any of my marketing classes have. I am extremely sad to be leaving such a welcoming and supportive company that treats its employees like family. Although, I will forever be grateful for my experience here. On Burkhart’s website, they state that “employees are empowered to pursue their individual passions, encouraged to do things differently and thrive to do great work without the politics of a larger firm. The team chemistry is genuine with a camaraderie that spans professional and personal lives. The result is happier and more productive employees, lower team turnover and consistently better results for our clients.” I couldn’t agree more.
