Walking into Saltwhistle as an intern, I expected to gain a few new skills, a few months worth of experience to put on my CV and get a taste of working life after graduating university. 4 months later, I’m now a Marketing Assistant and Assistant to the CEO. Here’s what I learned about marketing, business, and myself.

The Reality Check

I thought my internship would involve general work such as content creation, writing a few articles here and there and being the typical intern of being thrown tasks people don’t want to do/don’t have the time to do hahah. Instead, I discovered so much more work, time and attention to detail goes into marketing than I had realised.

My first real challenge was managing my time and tasks evenly. I learned that, when having multiple clients and many many tasks ongoing at one time, being organised is one of the main things. When I showed my struggle with juggling multiple tasks at once at the start, the team responded by either explaining tasks further so they made more sense and I was able to balance out the chaos in my mind or directly taking on the tasks with me, showing me that being organised and teamwork would be all I need to thrive at Saltwhistle or in any other environment. 

Growth and Skills

I’ve mastered writing articles and generating social content, and also completed client work that I was at first too nervous to take on alone. Working with the CEO has taught me many things, such as paying close attention to the small details, project management, adaptability etc but most importantly to never be afraid to ask questions and to enjoy what I do.    

The Full-Time Opportunity 

The full-time offer came after I had been at Saltwhistle for 4 months. My new responsibilities include assisting with strategic planning sessions and board meeting preparations, supporting business development initiatives and new client onboarding, managing special projects and company-wide initiatives as assigned, coordinating project timelines and deliverables across multiple accounts, conducting market research and competitive analysis to inform campaign strategies, helping to create engaging content for social media, email campaigns, and digital platforms and more. The biggest challenge I found starting full time was allocating enough time to certain tasks and ensuring I was providing quality over quantity. At first I was giving little time to many, many tasks as I felt I had to get them all done. I changed this by taking more time on each task and paying more attention to the work rather than just trying to get it done. I actually found it to be a quicker way of working and I still get through many tasks at a fast pace but the quality is there to match.

Looking Forward 

For future interns: I would say really take advantage of all the work you’re given and learn as much about the company, job role, tasks and further work that you can. What impressed my supervisors was my ability to give everything a go, even if I got stuck or didn’t understand something fully, I still gave it a go and tried as best as I could. 

I’m excited about furthering my skills, connecting with more people in the industry and learning more and more everyday. This experience has meant I am able to contribute to a successful and ever growing company. I contribute my own ideas and thoughts and am heard and I am keen to push myself and learn skills that will go on to aid me in any future endeavours.