Learning vs. Doing at an Internship
Every morning when I go to the office, my supervisor would have a morning briefing with me. Usually during that time, we would talk about our next steps on the project, or simply agree upon one agenda before the day starts. One morning, I sat across her as usual, discussing my plan in tackling down the generic client base for our digital email marketing campaign while turning in my 8th draft on the brochure design to her when she suddenly asked me “Yating, did you feel like you benefited or learn anything from all these projects I assigned to you?”
I was extremely surprised when she ask me this question, because I have never really spent any time after work or during work reflecting upon myself and asking the question “Have I learn any lessons from all those experiences?” My supervisor caught me off guard a bit but I was glad that she challenge me to say the answer to really reflect upon my experience. It was not difficult for me to find the answer, because as I really spend the time and think through my experiences so far, I actually did learn a lot!
My role as a Business Development intern allows me to engage in digital marketing campaign by using Hubspot to target our audience. At the same time, I am solely responsible for designing a marketing brochure to promote our firm service to pharmaceutical clients. From designing the brochure to actually having an official copy done, the whole process lasted about three weeks. During the process, I was applying designing skills and agile methodology I learn from IT class to generate output. Every round of feedback was filled with some extent of rejections and my initial proposal/design is always send back to me for better improvement. Each time I revise my draft, I learn to sell from the “client’s perspective” and improve on the layout. Doing the task helps me to apply Babson skills, but at the same time, I learn the importance of never doubting myself. Because I am capable of overcoming a lot of new challenges.
My second project is a digital marketing campaign in which I have to use Hubspot to generate two groups of audience – marketing qualified and sales qualified. The goal of this email campaign is to inform our audience about our service and eventually evoke their interest to buy our service. I was in charge of prioritizing clients from the generic client database and create personalized email to target those clients. During this project, I learn to prioritize one client over the other base on his/her clickstream on our firm’s website. Additionally, I have to gain a decent understanding on each client’s company in order to draft a personalized email template to better target his/her need. From this project, I learn how to use data to help me make better decisions, and learn to observe client’s behavior in order to develop a more personalized marketing strategy for each individual to increase sales.
Now that I have the time to really think about my internship, there are so many areas where I am constantly applying practical Babson knowledge to enhance my work quality. At the same time, I am also learning a lot from this hands-on experience. I have realized that although it seems easy to understand the concept and theory at a typical class setting at Babson, but when I am actually applying what I have learn to the job and connecting classroom knowledge with real world experiences, the whole experience is enhanced with practicality and memorable lessons. So my advice to Babson interns out in the field is do take the time to reflect on your work every day. Because you will be surprised not only by how much you learn, but also how well Babson has prepared you for the real Business world.