An internship as a college student can be a daunting experience. Not only is the process of obtaining a position stressful, but the prospect of working with business professionals who have been in the industry essentially longer than you have been alive is, quite frankly, intimidating. You hope you’ll end up in a successful program, you hope you’ll work with a strong and effective staff, and most importantly, you hope you’ll be able to contribute and make an impact.
All of these thoughts and more were swirling through my head as I approached the end of my junior year of college at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In the coming weeks, I would be thrown into my first real career experience in a field I had only learned about in my classrooms. Would I be up for the challenge?
As it turns out, my nerves were dispelled my very first day at Responsory. I walked in the door as a novice to the process, strategy and creative goals of the organization, but after a warm reception and a lot of help, I quickly became attuned to the amount of dedication and effort that is placed on each project. As I observed and participated day in and day out, I grew to understand the inner workings of the team, the clients and their needs.
I admired the drive of everyone I worked with, whether it was on the design team or account staff, who went above and beyond the expectations on a client piece or revision. The attention to detail on every project was an impressive skill I learned and tried to emulate, even when it seemed like there were a million things going on at once. I grew to love the “agency environment,” where each day offe
red opportunities to work on something new or explore an industry I knew nothing about. I began to equate going to the office each day with heading to my real-life classroom: the abundance of skills and information I learned have given me a start on the solid foundation that I will build my career on.
However, none of the above would have been possible without the people that I was given the privilege to work with. Each team member at Responsory trusted me enough to dip my toes in many different projects, both internal and client-based, and added to the summer’s excitement. Whether it was helping the creative team film our internal “Summer Fun” Frisbee campaign video or assisting our account executives on a client’s email referral program, I learned something from each of them through their expertise and their leadership skills. Every member of the Responsory team brings their own ideas and specialized background to each project, and I think that is what made the environment so distinct for me.
Overall, I could not have asked for a better three months here this summer at Responsory. The skills, the projects and the relationships I’ve built have been some of the most rewarding and enjoyable of my brief, yet exciting career life. I am looking forward to continue working for Responsory remotely during my final year at Madison. With a team like this, I can’t wait to see what the future holds!
Below are just a few of my favorite projects I had the opportunity to work on this summer. I was even able to contribute to an article for a major marketing publication… on direct mail trends, nonetheless! (A result of which, now, when I receive a piece of physical mail in my mailbox, I can’t help but analyze the font, the paper type, the copy…)
Creating the Frisbee campaign video is really “caught” in my memory as one of the most fun and memorable days during my summer with Responsory.
The opportunity to work on an email campaign like ASQ’s concurrent with the actual Olympics was exciting and relevant!
Helping develop “homegrown” copy for an SHP campaign was rewarding, especially as a “Wisconsin Original” myself.
