Starting at this internship, we had no clue about the true workings of #agencylife but knew that it was going to be a summer working together with the Fargo Police Department in some way. We met with our project manager after a couple of weeks of learning the ropes at Flint and getting settled into our teams. This meeting set the stage for what our summer project would look like with the FPD.
However, a police officer has a busy schedule, so it was another couple of weeks until we met with someone to discuss ideas and truly get working on this project. We didn’t just sit around waiting, but what exactly did we do?
No… I can tell you with confidence we did not do that.
In a lot of job descriptions, there is an “other duties as assigned” bullet point. But what does that mean? For a Flint Group intern? That means everything.
“I’ve been working with the social team, analyzing and enhancing clients’ social spaces, managing posting with CoSchedule and going to clients’ fundraising events like the Go Hawaiian for Hospice earlier this summer and the Giftburgers in the Plaza. I love those events because it allows me to meet members of the community, support a good cause and try an overwhelming amount of free food,” said Brenan Chase, social media intern.
Account services intern Hannah Hatling said, “Something that has been interesting is getting some experience with our manufacturing side and even things like putting together a Fargo-themed gift basket! That was a lot of fun!”
“It feels like I’ve experienced a little bit of everything around here, from reaching out to businesses to moving heavy boxes for someone around the office. You really have the opportunity to try things outside of what you do day-to-day because somebody will always need help with something,” added Zach Mohrfeld, account services intern.
Kallin Baarstad, creative intern, said, “This summer has been so busy getting pulled into a number of different projects. One hour I would be working on something health care related and the next would be going through huge boxes of invoices for our manufacturing team! Getting an opportunity to experience broad client work first-hand is impressive.”
Helping at the front desk is a fun thing that I do frequently because I’m always willing to help out – it’s great to get out of my normal workspace and to meet some other people around the office I wouldn’t normally meet! There are so many opportunities for personal development and fun. For a project, two other co-workers were able to present at 1 Million Cups Fargo, which was an outstanding opportunity! I’ve also been able to really get some broad experience with what someone in my career path could be doing, which is a privilege not many get to have.
In a month’s time, we hosted an office-wide picnic, attended fundraising events, volunteered with other co-workers, took over Flint’s social media and even participated in the FPD’s music video (stay tuned to FPD’s Facebook page, so you don’t miss us) that will be released soon!
In all, I think that coming into a Flinternship, you have an idea of what your day-to-day work environment will be like, but as soon as you start getting pulled into projects, attending meetings and working alongside your team, you truly get to let your skills flourish. Not only do you get to utilize what you’ve already learned to help with projects and accomplish the goals of client work, but you get to learn a whole new side of marketing, social media, public relations, communications and of course, #agencylife.
Thanks for a Flint-ing awesome summer.