At the end of August, I did not think I would be having an internship for the first semester of my final year of college. But one day, after a day of lifeguarding at the beach, I received an email from Martin, a partner at Semgeeks. The agency was looking for course credit interns for Fall 2018. I thought about it for a second, because I had previously been interested in Semgeeks after they came to Monmouth’s career fair. I talked to my parents, emailed Martin back, had an interview with Christina and Pete, and just like that, I was hired as a course credit intern for their marketing department.
Before I started, Martin explained to me that the marketing experience I got at previous internships was a “slice of the pie” of what marketing really was. At the time, I did not really understand that, but after three months of working at Semgeeks, I finally understand what he was saying. SEO, PPC, and SEM are only a few of the new terms and phrases I learned while working here this semester. Before interning here, I really only had a vague idea of what these things were, but Semgeeks really helped me gain a much better understanding of marketing concepts. Whether I was sitting in on meetings and phone calls with clients or using Squarespace to help post and edit the blog of a client, Semgeeks really gave me a better idea of how companies and their employees operate in the real world.
One of my favorite parts about Semgeeks was the people that work here. Everyone I worked with was extremely friendly and very helpful. When I first started here I felt so overwhelmed and lost, and I really did not have any idea what to do. I always had to ask questions about how to write and post blogs, how to use services like Accelo and SproutSocial, and so many other things. Christina probably got fed up with the questions, but she always answered me quickly and thoroughly and overall just really helped me understand how things work around here. I didn’t have to feel afraid of asking too many questions, because everyone I worked with would answer them promptly and thoroughly, and they never were annoyed by my curiosities or clarifications.
There is never really a quiet moment either. Everyone is always constantly communicating with one another, which makes for a very collaborative work environment. Another thing I loved about my internship here was that I always had something to do. I wasn’t doing typical intern stuff like grabbing coffee for everyone or filing out random paperwork; it was hands-on work for clients. During my experience, I learned how to use programs like Drupal, Squarespace, WordPress, and SproutSocial, to name a few.
My advice to any college students: if your university offers any sort of internship course credits, take advantage of it! Working for a company gives you the experience you will need once you graduate and head into the real world. Semgeeks gave me an experience a normal class could never give me.
