I found my internship at the Rider University career fair. As a junior in college, I had no experience in the HR field and it was a very stressful time. In a year or so, I knew I would be entering the real world with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources. I remember handing in my resume to Martin Birdsall, and after speaking to him about myself and his company, I was ecstatic to move forward in the internship process. Classes alone are not enough for a student to educate themselves and grow in their career, and working at Semgeeks taught me things that I would have never learned in any of my classes.
As an HR major, I only had one class in marketing, so the work being done at Semgeeks was completely new to me. Employees were using terms that I was just hearing for the first time. I really did not know much about the digital marketing process. I knew this would be a challenge for myself, but I was excited to take it on. I have learned so much from every single person at Semgeeks; they were all there and ready to offer their help.
Throughout my internship, I worked with the administration department as the Talent Acquisition Coordinator. I performed a variety of tasks and projects. To start, I served as the point of contact for applicants by tracking applicant activity in the requisition funnel. I was also given the opportunity to attend many different career fairs. I was fortunately able to independently run the Semgeeks table at the career fair at Rider University. This meant a lot to me because it showed me I was trusted by my boss. I have always attended career fairs and talked to different employers, but this time I was on the other end. It was interesting talking to my fellow classmates, having them look up to me and ask for information on Semgeeks. I felt very confident and happy knowing that I could be the person helping them move onto the next step and making it possible for them to start working at Semgeeks.
I also learned a lot about organizational strategy and how it is mapped out in a business. I always understood there were different roles inside of a business, but this internship enlightened me as to how it is structured and organized. There was one day at work that stood out to me, when an outside consultant came into Semgeeks so that they could shoot a conversational video on sexual harassment in the workplace. I was able to sit in with Martin and the consultant and give my opinion on the situation from a woman’s standpoint. The most important thing I took out of this was that the best defense is being proactive–developing a zero tolerance policy, user friendly complaint procedures, conducting awareness training, and taking immediate action to complaints. They acknowledged the importance of my opinions on the matter, making me feel very valued by Semgeeks.
This was a great experience because throughout my time at Semgeeks I was given the independence to learn and grow in so many areas, acquiring skills that I will be able to take with me my whole life. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of working for a digital marketing company. Not only did I learn about HR responsibilities, but I learned about marketing concepts as well. This internship had a huge impact on my overall knowledge and heightened my understanding of my major.
