This week, I reached the 2-month mark at my internship which means I am past the half-way point of my media-agency internship journey. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown and it has made me realise that I’m not that far away from the end of the semester…. Kind of. Juggling my studies, attending my internship and working to support myself has been a challenging experience, especially as assessment due dates loom, but ultimately it has helped strengthen my time management and multi-tasking skills. Skills which are essential in any work environment and surprisingly, not only manage to teach you about working to deadlines, but also teach you to work smarter, not harder. This is crucial in any role, whether it be professional setting or in your personal life.
For the total of 17 days, over 8 weeks, I have learnt an exceptional amount. I’m starting to have an overall better understanding of industry concepts, understand the data more and I’m even starting to get what each abbreviation stands for, without having to constantly ask what they mean! Abbreviations are used constantly in the media industry and in addition to that each client team has their own set of abbreviations which are specific to that client. This is an aspect you kind of have to start to nail pretty quickly, or you’ll be left in the dust before they’ve actually started talking about anything important. My advice to anyone seeking a career in the media industry would be to do some preliminary research onto what the standard abbreviations in the industry are- this will be super helpful in making sure not everything is overwhelming! I personally am still learning this. However, I have come a long way since I first stepped foot into the agency. Frequent exposure and attendance at meetings and in discussions is helping enormously, as it puts things into context. But if you can do that extra research, I would definitely recommend it. Also, if you aren’t confident in your Excel skills and have the opportunity to do a short course, do the course. Excel will be your new best friend. I myself have a basic knowledge of Excel and could definitely further my skills in the program, I know enough to get by, but I would definitely feel more confident in what I am doing if I had stronger Excel skills. I know everyone says it a lot, but it’s hard to really understand its importance until you are working with it frequently. I will definitely be looking into doing a short course once the semesters over.
I am fortunate enough to be working alongside some really understanding and patient colleagues who are giving me some amazing learning opportunities, even whilst chatting to them at lunch. Additionally, I am working alongside two different client teams, so I am gaining a broader understanding of the roles, different processes and procedures and I see how crucial each role is in achieving client goals. I’m engaging in as many opportunities as I can, I ask questions when I need further clarification and I’m even suggesting my ideas when it’s appropriate to do so. Attending meetings has also been helpful in reinforcing my understanding of tasks and the industry, so I am grateful that I get to sit in on meetings of two clients. Plus, the best part about working alongside 2 client teams with different expectations and goals, is you discover different ways to do things and different features of programs, which can be super useful. Between the two teams, I have done tasks which used Tableau, AQX/ERAM, Trademark, Radio surveys, BCC/Spectra and Ikonametrics (which is a data analysis tool for each major metro market) and have also worked on things such as competitor break downs, updating out of home scheduling and getting reach curve data for tv channels across different markets and dates.
The experience is full of learning opportunities as there is a whole other world of media buying knowledge that just does not get taught in classes. The media planning subject I completed at QUT is really only the tip of the iceberg and it’s hard to get an understanding of depth and complexity of the industry until you immerse yourself in it. Media life is busy and is constantly changing and adapting as new things come to light. This means I am constantly learning new things and facing new challenges, which is what doing an internship is all about.
The challenges:
Some specific challenges I have faced include remembering the processes of how to do things, particularly because I switch between two client teams, meaning sometimes it can be two or three weeks before I re do that same task. Luckily for me though, everyone I work with is super understanding and I am able to write down important notes into the notebook they gave me when I first started, so it’s easy to refer back to and refresh my memory when needed.
That’s all for now.
Until next time.
Tayen
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