Life as a Marketing Intern – Involver Style

Will I be making cups of coffee for eight hours a day? Are they going to let me stop to take a bathroom break? How many paper cuts am I going to get from filing papers all day? These questions and more were running through my head the days leading up to my big first day as a marketing intern for Involver. Luckily, my first day and every day after have been far from that.

Stepping out of the elevator onto the top floor of 611 Mission Street, the fear I had immediately left me when I saw the fun colored carpet and smiling face coming from the welcome desk. First impressions are important and in most cases spot on. Making my way through the Involver office I was impressed; the people were nice, the setup open and welcoming. Involver won me over with the stocked kitchen of snacks and the life-size Justin Bieber cut out propped next to the jumbo size beanbags. I thought to myself, ‘hey if I am going to be serving coffee all day at least I will be doing it in a cool environment.’

Immediately I was given a mac laptop, workspace and assigned projects. I loved it. I was given tasks to complete individually and collaborate on with other Involverites. I wasn’t just some intern being assigned the leftover grunt work. I was an important part of the Involver Marketing Team.

I have been given the opportunity to help Involver grow, get exposure to the social industry, and improve on my skill set. Internships (well the good ones) are about a mutual beneficial relationship. My coworkers and managers are expecting me to work hard and produce satisfactory results. In return they are nurturing my growth as an entry-level marketing professional, not an intern. Thus far, I have been responsible for providing two competitive analyses, writing blogs, working in a team to redesign Involver’s own Facebook Fan Page and next week I’ll be presenting to the entire sales organization.

Exposure to practices of a marketing team and the social media industry has been the most valuable part of my internship. I am constantly learning about Involver’s products, social media, and best practices.

I have learned that the Involver team has a ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality. Everyone gives 110%, but the folks at Involver like to have a good time too. Throughout the office people can be seen sitting on medicine balls instead of chairs, the conference rooms have quirky names like “Bat Cave,” “Metropolis” and “Hall of Justice,” – referencing famous super hero lairs as Involverites are super. Not to mention the delicious catered breakfast by Rise and Dine every morning – talk about a reason to come to work. All of these attributes lead Involver to have a great company culture.

Being a marketing intern at Involver means: being part of a team, working for an innovative company in a booming industry an continually learning. So, I guess you could say my nightmares of what my internship was going to entail was well, a little off. I don’t serve coffee, they let me go to the bathroom and definitely no paper cuts for this tech-savvy paper-free social world.