I submitted my internship application to Burkhart Marketing this summer. What initially drew me in was their work with the finest enterprise and franchise brands in the country. However, what I did not know about was the one-of-a-kind internship I would gather from my four months here. My journey, from the application process to my final days, has helped sculpt me into a better person. They have the ability to maintain a professional work experience all while still treating you like a family member. This skill simply cannot be taught, but it truly makes all the difference.

A Burkhart internship is an internship that cannot be duplicated in another place. To list all of the things that I have learned through my semester here would take up all my fingers and toes. However, there are a couple of overarching categories that I believe truly encapsulates my time at Burkhart Marketing. These categories are intern integration, a diversified portfolio of work and in the field experience.

Internship Integration

Have you had an internship where you did nothing but answer phone calls, make copies and handle small (irrelevant) tasks? I think we all have. This was my main fear when I applied to internships because I craved the real-world work experience needed for confidence in work after college.

This fear melted away within five minutes of me speaking with Burkhart Marketing. Prior to even receiving an official offer letter, I was being asked to stimulate my brain and activate my creativity in work that was similar to what I would be doing during an internship. Though it was scary, I knew that this meant that I’d be doing real work during my semester and the quality of my work would be an important standard.

This phase of the interview process truly set the tone in my mind of what this internship would be like. What makes it even better, is that it surpassed my expectations.

In the Office

Once I actually stepped foot in the office, I immediately felt the energy that was within the work environment. Between the smiling faces, the modern styled building and the snack-filled kitchen, Burkhart has established a work environment that is consistent with the culture they intend to display. Working alongside another intern gave me both a chance to connect with colleagues with similar fields of study and collaborate with ideas and skills to create strong work with multiple perspectives behind it. 

Though everything mentioned prior were stellar components to my Burkhart experience, the structure of the internship sells the idea that Burkhart presents an internship similar to none. I admired the precise organization and intentionality behind every task I completed. There was never an assignment that I completed blindly.

Through the delegation of work by my supervisor, I was able to know the end goal to my work and each step necessary to reach it. What shocked me most was the integration of the interns in these steps. I truly felt like I had a say in a lot of decisions made within digital marketing and social media. From planning to creating, I was asked for my creativity and thoughts to be heard and it made me feel like part of the team.

A Diversified Portfolio of Work

I could create a complete digital marketing portfolio from just the work I completed during this time at Burkhart. From day one, I was heavily involved in the implementation of social media content for Burkhart’s personal accounts. There was ample opportunity for me to learn new skills, creative styles and leave with a heightened sense of my creative style in work. This is yet another reason I feel Burkhart does an excellent job with their interns. It’s unique how their content is designed to reflect unison and structure all while still pushing their interns to dig deep and explore their artist digital abilities. I was able to have my style shine through while still holding true to Burkhart’s. That concept is an important takeaway that many internships do not gather. 

I also learned important information regarding the marketing industry at large from creating blog posts. This was a writing style that I was completely unfamiliar with prior to my time at Burkhart. I can now confidently say that it is something that I have a great experience with. Through blog assignments, I was able to do research on important staples of successful marketing in general (SEO, Targeting Audiences). 

On top of this, I was able to learn about specific industries and their best practices. I may not have ever taken the time to research these topics on my own, like telemedicine. This aspect of my internship brought more layers to the list of knowledge I gained during my four months. I am excited to use it to have more well-rounded and research-supported work in the future.

In-the-Field Experience

If the prior two categories were not enough to sell you on the uniqueness of a Burkhart internship, maybe knowing that I in-the-field with the team will. Burkhart increases their internship quality by trusting us interns to go to work with them and their clients. I able to be on set of commercials being made and give suggestions of things while I was there. This truly brought the internship full circle for me. I was able to take the research I did while creating blogs and the content I made for Burkhart and apply it to what I think would work well for clients. I could see another side of marketing and I gained confidence in my real world experience of the industry.

Bringing it all Together

If you haven’t caught my drift, let me restate it – Burkhart’s internship experience is the opportunity of a lifetime. From the intentionality behind work delegation, the intern integration into important agency responsibilities and in-the-field experience, I am confident that I am a better marketeer from my time as an intern. I am excited to apply my new skills and knowledge in my next endeavor.