Guidance to Life After College

I came into college with the belief that I was absolutely certain advertising was the career I wanted to pursue. As my college career continued, I found myself enjoying my advertising classes and being even more certain that I had found the right major for me. Because I wanted to be an account manager, I decided to declare a business minor. Once I began my business minor, I realized that, while business and communications are very similar, they are also very different. There were things that I liked about both, and suddenly I found myself uncertain of what exactly I wanted to do post-college for the first time since graduating high school. This is why my internship for my advertising major was (and still is) so important – it has helped me understand the type of work I want to do after graduation.

I’m interning at LevLane, a great agency with even better people. Because I was a bit uncertain of what I wanted to do after college, it was suggested that I interview for the traffic position instead of account management. Through the traffic internship, I could see the entire process through of creating an ad and understand every role in the agency. I’m very happy I did so because I honestly have learned about the ins and outs of each role through this position.

I was interested in copywriting, because I love English, and I learned that there is so much more to it than creating headlines and body copy. Copywriters come up with names for brands and things belonging to brands, spend more time brainstorming than I had originally imagined, and do lots of editing. It is definitely a more intense process than I would have thought it was before this internship.

Coming into this internship, I was also extremely interested in public relations. I really like problem solving and English, so I thought this could be a great field for me. I realized, though, that there are different kinds of PR. A main difference is agency PR verses in-house PR. I learned that agencies mainly do a lot of social media and media schedules, while in-house PR does more crisis management. This is a difference I hadn’t known about before LevLane.

I also realized that account managers spend a very great amount of time conversing with clients throughout the day. I understood that account managers were responsible for understanding the client’s needs, but I didn’t realize how much of their work days actually consisted of these conversations.

Understanding exactly what all of these departments did each day was important, but this was only possible because of the amazing people who work at LevLane. From interns to employees, the people at LevLane are so welcoming and helpful and honest. Each person I converse with at my internship offers me a lot of great insight about his or her role – without even realizing it sometimes. So, the greatest thing I have taken so far from this internship would seem like my understanding of each department, but it is actually my conversations with the people there. Thanks to these conversations, I have learned that there are so many pros to all of the different communications job opportunities and I am again looking forward to a communications career after college.