GETTING YOUR IDEAL INTERNSHIP - Universum

Getting Your Ideal Internship
CHAPTER 1
Internships:
The Big Picture
CHAPTER 2
The Search
CHAPTER 3
Getting Hired
CHAPTER 4
Navigating
Your Internship
CHAPTER 5
real intern
profiles
CHAPTER 5
For Your
Reference
MBA Brand
Management
Intern
What did you do as an intern?
I was an associate brand management intern at a big
consumer packaged goods company. I worked under
the general manager who handled a variety of projects
and managed a cross-functional team. I worked
on new products, from concept to launch. I worked
with agencies on advertising and communication campaigns.
I worked on finding ways to improve our product
quality and margins, and coordinated with global
teams to keep our strategy aligned around the world.
What did you do before?
I worked as a management consultant and as a project
manager in the strategy group of a music company.
How did you get the internship?
Through on-campus recruiting at my business
school. I met representatives from the company, had
informational interviews with them and realized the
company would be a good fit for me. Investing the
time in getting to know the company and building
relationships kept me top-of-mind when it came
time to select candidates to interview.
What are your career aspirations?
The internship led to a full-time job, so right now I’m
getting a great education in marketing from a worldclass
marketing company. Eventually, I’d like to either
start my own company or work for a smaller company
where I can apply the skills I’m developing in brand
management.
What kinds of people do well in
this industry?
People who are self-motivated leaders. As a brand manager,
I’m managing several projects at once and man-
aging a large team of cross-functional partners. From
business school I’ve brought the leadership and negotiations
skills required to ensure I’m getting the best work
from my team and that we’re meeting all of our deadlines
and milestones. Additionally, I have to be able to
pull myself out of the details and think about my brand
strategically: How do my projects fit in the bigger picture?
What is the long term vision for my brand?
What did you really like about
your internship?
I liked that I got to use my creative, strategic, and analytic
skills every day. There are so many different elements
to the job and every day is different so I feel like
I’m always learning and developing. The internship
prepared me for that. I also loved my fellow interns and
the brand managers we worked with. Now that I’m here
full time, I’ve got a great group of close friends whom I
worked with as an intern.
What did you dislike?
Working at a big, public company comes with its fair
share of politics and bureaucracy. The training was
great, but sometimes I wished we could be more nimble
and take more risks without getting bogged down in
processes.
What’s one thing you learned in your
internship?
That brand management is not solely marketing. It’s
more general management with a healthy dose of marketing
and strategy.
How can someone get an internship
like yours?
Network with industry professionals and learn about
the various companies and their cultures. Study marketing
and show a genuine interest in products and the
consumer insights behind every decision the company
made to getting that product to market. From the packaging
to the advertisement, the consumer is at the cen-
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