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4 minute read
Having stepped into the graduate pool carrying only a little experience on my back, I’d like to think that I’m coping pretty well with the challenges that working life throws at me. I’m always keen to tackle any obstacles that come my way.
Admittedly, getting up at 7 am each morning has been a real struggle. But I’ve managed to fight through the constant longing to have that extra 5 minutes snooze… just.
Triviality aside, integrating into an office culture and expanding my knowledge of marketing has made every day a learning curve. As my confidence begins to grow, I hope that the gaps in my knowledge start to shrink, as the wane of my anxiety slowly bridges any cracks left to fill.
I mean, I can’t dismiss that I know a little already about inbound marketing – even if it’s fragmented. But what I was most apprehensive about wasn’t the knowledge I already had, but the knowledge that I was missing.
This is why I anticipated my internship to be quite daunting, as well as exciting. So here’s what I’ve learnt along the way as I continue to navigate the digital marketing world.
From graduate to intern
Armed with my degree in International Business, a Google Marketing Fundamentals certification and an eagerness to start my career, I found myself at Klood.
As you probably found out early in your career, knowledge and office etiquette go hand-in-hand. At Klood, I’m learning the extent of this as I’m getting accustomed to developing both of these skills in tandem.
The structure of my internship at Klood has steadied my shaking hands as I try to balance my knowledge-based learning, as well as understanding how to coordinate and communicate this. I was nervous that I would be expected to jump into piles of client work, to know my MOFU’s (Middle of the Funnel) from my TOFU’s (Top of the Funnel), and honestly, this hasn’t been the case.
Admittedly, during my first week, I felt an overwhelming sense of ‘Will I ever be good enough?’, and I couldn’t help but compare it to uni life, either. Ironically, studying International Business at uni couldn’t help me prepare for life at a marketing agency.
I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this before… somewhere 🤔
While I wasn’t expected to start my internship at a running pace, I also wasn’t given the measly job of making tea either! I started off slow and focused my time on learning about the industry and Klood’s role within it. A gradual start will you set you at a jogging pace soon enough: that was Klood’s mantra for me.
What’s really excelled my learning and industry knowledge is the HubSpot Academy, which will equip you with all you need to know about inbound marketing and finding your way through a CMS (Content Management System).
With time put aside for me to complete these lessons online, I’ve been able to avoid the feeling of being deadlocked; unable to forget uni, yet unable to find my feet as a graduate – and this fear started to engulf me pretty much as soon as I graduated. This learning material got me quickly grounded in the workplace – the ability to understand what other people were talking about was instrumental in feeling able to contribute to the team.
Along with online learning tools, I got involved in Klood’s internal campaigns by writing several blogs. I’ve enjoyed writing about topics such as buyer personas, website conversion, and content marketing.
Now I’m understanding my place a little better here. Working on a variety of clients in small quantities was fun and varied, but now I’m discovering that learning in depth about specific clients is even more fun, and in fact, this transition onto larger projects doesn’t seem any less varied.
I’ve come a long way from the timid intern who didn’t really know my way around the marketing – or indeed the office – landscape in the short few months I’ve been at Klood. I hope as my internship progresses I can start to build up my responsibilities and develop my career in digital marketing. In fact, I know for certain that I will.
