Lessons I have learnt from my internship… So far.

Written and compiled by Abby Robson, Intern Account Executive.

I will never forget the first morning I started at Saatchi & Saatchi Synergize: Entirely uninitiated with the early morning traffic flow, I arrived a full hour and a half early. On this overly eager note, I decided to jot down a few guiding notes:

Ask questions
Be professional
Keep it low key.

Admittedly, after studying a smorgasbord of subjects for the last seven years, I was fully conscious of my severe lack of real-world experience. At 27, while my fellow cohort were already enjoying their umpteenth promotion and relative success in their solid careers, I was starting my first real Internship. A month later, I am ready to add some of the lessons I’ve learnt so far to my rudimentary list.

Become your own expert

“Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks” – Author Unknown

We are so lucky to be living in an age of information and ubiquitous connectivity. With the wealth of knowledge the internet offers at our fingertips, there really is no pardon for ignorance. Informative presentations, webinars, tutorials, and free courses are abound online and can all be used to extend our knowledge on virtually every subject.

In my first week at Saatchi, I pretty much did a crash course in SEO and educated myself about indexing, crawling, website optimisation, keyword domination, PPC and SERP ranking – to the point where I considered myself a fundi in something I had only known to be an acronym. In digital marketing especially, if you don’t stay ahead of the curve, you come to naught. After devouring every digital marketing blog from here to Jupiter, I have now added a few to my daily staple in a bid to stay relevant (AllFacebook, Digiday, Social Fresh and Buffer and Content Marketing Institute are a few of my favourites). You have to make it your mission to be ‘in the know’, and if you don’t know, Google it.

Don’t burn bridges, build them

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” – John Donne

This old adage rung true for me the day I arrived for my interview and spotted three people that I knew. After moving between Johannesburg, Cape Town, London and a legion of throughout my childhood, I had become, by definition, a bit of a “rolling stone”. However, I realised the day I sat down at my new desk, flanked by a trio of old friends, just how valuable it is in life to be on good terms with people. You literally never know when you will be working opposite them, and even more notably, when your character reference and future job hire might depend on their good word.

Dress for success

“Dress for the position you want, not the position you have.” ― Santosh Inani

This is a way of greeting each day like it’s important. Not only does it imbue you with a sense of purpose (something very necessary during the initial period when your To Do list consists of a single line), but it also signals to others that you are ready to climb the ladder of success. After having dressed more like a CEO than an Intern in my first month, I am convinced that dressing smartly does wonders for one’s productivity, confidence levels and first impressions. Dress for success, and indeed it sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Get involved

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ― Charles Dickens

The initial go-slow period of an internship offers a prime opportunity to get involved and be useful to others. Contrary to my fretful belief that I would be immediately expected to deliver the goods (and dismally fail), in reality, no one expects you to perform on Day 1, or even on Day 30, for that matter. So, in the meantime, I found that the best way I could add value was to be a team-player and offer to help in whatever capacity I could. When my first call to action was to help “stock” a website, I genuinely thought that I would have an acute myocardial infarction. Be that as it may, I managed just fine. I got to know a member from another team (he is now my go-to for every minor problem), add to my skill-set, proudly log a full 7.5 hours on my time sheet, and leave the office feeling like a had made a contribution. So go on, go the extra mile, you’ll find its never overcrowded.

So in conclusion: there are no conclusions – only experiences, lessons and lifelong learning. I plan on making the most of my time here as an intern and I know that I will increase my former dimensions along the way. I walked through these doors completely unsure of my self and insecure in my accomplishments, yet now I leave every day knowing that self-doubt kills more dreams then failure ever will. As Saatchi and Saatchi’s catchphrase goes: “Nothing Is Impossible” – it’s only the limits we construct for ourselves that are the ones we have.