Interning: An Insider’s Perspective

Essays
cat.may
This post courtesy of Amy McCann

Internships have a bit of a bad wrap, so finding one that you enjoy is rare. My experience at We Are Social has been a great kickstart to my career. I had been having a little bit of a quarter-life-crisis (we’ve all been there)… I wasn’t sure if my degree was really going to get me where I wanted to go and I was getting tired of not having an answer to “so what are you going to do after uni?”. The opportunity to work with the team at We Are Social confirmed for me that I am on the right track.

Intern experiences vary wildly. If you want an internship that will have you folding letters and doing coffee runs – then this isn’t the one you’re looking for. The WAS experience is hands-on and collaborative. I’ve done everything from reaching out to the best Instagram dog influencers to trawling Pinterest for new content ideas for both coffee and wine clients (surprisingly similar). You’re at the forefront of social media marketing – seriously… who would have thought four years ago that a dog on Instagram could influence human actions? Social listening is a big part of the We Are Social philosophy. It’s all about having your finger on the pulse of social media, and being ahead of the game when it comes to creating content.

The office environment is open and welcoming, with a seemingly endless supply of snacks. We Are Social have a great culture as a workplace. Even as an intern, I didn’t feel out of place in the office – even getting to spend a day on the water with the team for the Christmas Party. Joining the agency’s very own interagency social network, The Ship, is going to be one of your best assets at WAS. You’ll get to connect with offices all around the world and keep up to date with social campaigns and activity. If moving abroad is on the charts (London here I come) then this is a great resource to have.

The We Are Learning training sessions taught me more about the industry than I’ve learnt in any of my uni classes, covering every aspect from client briefs to Snapchat.

The best part of the internship at WAS is getting across a variety of clients. Seeing the difference between working with a client such as Activision, compared to antivirus client Trend Micro gives you a broad range of experience. You don’t know variety until you jump from Yellowtail, to Call of Duty and then on to Trend Micro all in the same day.

Leaving the We Are Social office will genuinely be a sad day – I’ve loved my time here and the people I’ve worked alongside. The only tip I would give to people wanting to join the We Are Social internship is… bring baked goods and you’ll be just fine!

We Are Social Intern