Each summer, students from the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics gain important real-world professional skills through internships. In each installment of this series, you’ll hear firsthand about how one Lerner student secured their internship, what their experience as an intern was like and what comes next!
Nicole Lehner, Class of 2020, marketing and management double major with an advertising minor, spent her summer in New York City, New York as a media planner intern at Intouch Group, a pharmaceutical advertising agency.
Q: How did you find out about this internship?
Lehner: I looked up advertising agencies with great internship programs in NYC and came across Intouch Group! After interviewing via zoom and skype with multiple places, I knew I liked the people best at Intouch. I connected with everyone I spoke with and wanted to work alongside them. HR also told me everyone who interviewed me wanted me on board and I really enjoyed hearing that so I signed the contract to intern at Intouch!
I want to emphasize that if you are a marketing major, just because you may not get an internship offer in November like your friends in other business majors, that does not mean you should give up! It certainly does not mean you are going to get stuck with a bad internship either. For the most part, marketing fields do not hire until March at the earliest. I received my internship offers in May the last two years and while, of course, it would be nice to have an offer earlier in the year, I learned that it will not be like that in this field. The transition between companies is really easy in this field so while starting out is stressful it will be easier in the future for you, a marketing major, to move around!
Q: What is the most exciting task that you have undertaken in your role?
Lehner: I really enjoyed creating a pitch regarding a made-up campaign with other interns. It was really exciting because we were given a project with similar guidelines that clients give to Intouch. Our managers acted as the client and provided us with constructive feedback.
As the media intern, I figured out the optimal way to spend the media budget through display, paid search and paid social channels. I created a few slides that I got to present in front of the founder and C-Suite executives during the last week of my internship. It was a great experience. Additionally, I created a full media deck of about forty slides that I presented to the media team too. The deck contained what sites I chose to advertise on, why I chose them and more. I truly was able to show off everything I learned throughout my internship into these presentations. I walked away with a full grasp as to what it takes to be a media planner.
Q: What did you learn through this internship that you don’t think you would have learned anywhere else?
Lehner: I learned that the people make or break your internship or job. I loved everyone I worked with and know that I want to work in an agency with outgoing, young people like myself because I thrive in this high-energy kind of environment.
Q: What is an example of a time you were able to apply something you learned at the Lerner College to your role?
Lehner: I learned in operations management how some tasks in a project cannot be completed until another one is finished. This is really shown in charts that Professor Murphy taught us how to create. Additionally, Intouch uses Microsoft Project to list out the deadlines for each team member, as well as shows how some tasks cannot get started until the previous ones are completed. It was cool having already understood this concept at UD to see this concept being used with real life clients.
Q: What has been the most fun part of your internship?
Lehner: The most fun part of my internship was definitely being with the people! I am a big people person so this tends to be my answer for a lot of questions like this. I became really close with my team and several interns.
Q: How do you think this internship will help you with your professional goals?
Lehner: It confirmed my idea of wanting to work in an agency. Last summer, I also worked in an agency and loved the upbeat, fast-moving and friendly environment. I found a similar environment at the agency I worked in last year to this agency and I know for sure that I want to work in an agency. I also learned I like the pharmaceutical industry. Before this internship, I was hesitant about working in this field as it has a negative connotation. However, the fact that I feel as though I am helping someone makes this industry incredible.
Q: What are your plans or next steps once this internship is over?
Lehner: My next step is to search for a full time job!