With the competition of finding a job in this economy continuously increasing, it makes job searching even more difficult for us grads with, well, no experience. If you’re anything like myself, I tried to work around this no experience issue by beefing up my resume with internship after internship to gain the highest level of expertise before graduating. Lake Forest alum Louise Lloyd Owen did the same and graduated in May to begin her “real world” job search.
“I moved home but knew my parents weren’t going to dish out money after graduation so I worked at J. Crew,” said Louise. “My goal was to be somewhere by September 1st but I began working 40 hours a week and I found myself not looking for jobs at all. I felt myself being lazy and miserable living back at home.”
Louise quickly realized she needed more time to search for jobs and, in an effort to begin networking in Boston, she transferred to the J. Crew in the city. Within one day, Louise received a call that eventually changed her summer plans for good.
A few weeks prior, Louise applied to one of the top advertising internships in the country at Mullen. Roughly 1,000 applications are submitted by young hopefuls at the turn of each academic season for only 25 spots at the agency.
“I’m so lucky I got this internship,” said Louise. “It’s stressful but it’s the kind of stressful where its so fascinating that you’re learning. I actually want to go to work every morning.”
Louise was selected to be an intern in the PR department among other departments such as brand planning, account services, analytics, media, creative, etc. She works each day from 9:00 to 5:30 and admits it’s unlike any other internship program she’s ever participated in.
“From the first day you are put onto real accounts,” she said. “You are in contact with the client and they have you doing everything a normal entry-level person would do after being hired. Some things are confidential. They really trust the interns and they want you to see the real life workings of an advertising agency.”
Some of Louise’s daily tasks include creating media lists, writing press releases, making sure pitches are received and evaluating whether publications are going to print the story.
“The big thing with PR right now is completely relied on social media,” she said. “You have to know what people are talking about out there. I help monitor and update the Twitter and Facebook accounts throughout the day for clients.”
The great thing about Mullen’s internship program is that is has a weekly class called Lunch and Learn where the interns from various departments gather together to listen to teachings from the agency’s employees.
“There are very few places that are young, dynamic and integrated like Mullen,” said Louise. “It is truly a fun environment to work in.”
Louise will complete the internship in August and she aspires to continue working in the PR side of an advertising agency.
If you’re anything like Louise, adding another internship to your resume is not only a logical option, but it gives you the opportunity to network in your area. Both Louise and I went to school outside of our current network so Louise is definitely on the right track to using these connections in the future.
