Expect the Unexpected | Sierra John’s Marketing Internship
When the hope of summer first begins to be felt around the campus of Maranatha, students are excited for the new possibilities that summer brings. Some possibilities are expected, and some are not. For one MBU senior, her summer was unexpected.
Sierra John is a Communication Arts major with a minor in Marketing Management, and over the summer, she wanted to intern somewhere that would grow her knowledge and expand her future. When she first applied to be an intern at Keating and Associates, she had no idea she would be accepted three interviews later, but the unexpected changed her world and God gave her this wonderful opportunity.
Keating and Associates is a financial services firm that aids in financial planning, managing investments, and helping with insurance services. Sierra’s internship involved working with the business, but she also worked on marketing materials to promote individual services. Her classes at MBU prepared her with principles she was able to apply to her new internship. Marketing is not just looking at the big picture and Sierra found that it “breaks down to daily tasks”. Her internship opened her eyes to understand what needs independent businesses might have even down to the kind of paper that is used.
Common in new situations, Sierra felt overwhelmed by the unknown; however, her internship provided her with an excellent opportunity to acquire real-world experience. Walking into this new adventure, it took her a while to warm up and show all she could do; but the classes at MBU prepared her to accurately apply her knowledge to daily tasks in the workforce. Sierra expressed that the concepts talked about in class can often be vague, but having an internship provided her with the perfect outlet to use the skills the professors have worked to refine. When asked how her internship will complement her education at MBU, Sierra explains that the real-world experience she gained in the realm of marketing cultivated skills to market nonprofit organizations and think of specific classes that she desires to take during her final semesters at MBU.
Internships are a perfect avenue to learn new things, and Sierra was able to not only learn new skills but also push herself out of her comfort zone. She expresses that she used to be timid when giving feedback, but the atmosphere of being an intern at Keating and Associates pushed her to provide vital feedback from a fresh perspective. She learned not to be afraid to get in there and get to know the people so that she could give valuable and honest feedback.
Sierra states, “Keating and Associates, though not exactly what I was expecting, taught me the practical day-to-day tasks of marketing and gave me a clearer direction for my future career.” Through her internship, Sierra was able to sharpen her career vision and is now more prepared to tailor her degree to meet her academic desires.
To learn more about internships and how they can complement your degree, click here.