I think above all, this experience has taught me that entering the workforce shouldn’t be so scary, especially in this field. I think as a college student, I feel as though I am not a fully prepared adult, I am more in this limbo stage of my life. However, from many of my coworkers here at levlane not everyone seems to necessarily have their lives together. There’s never really a big turning point where you feel as though, yes I am an adult now! It’s more fake till you make it kind of scenario. Everyone is just trying to do their best and survive, given that this is an industry based on performance. Additionally, this experience has taught me that in the advertising industry, everyone has to work together to get things done. All coworkers must listen to each other and collaborate effectively with one another in order to create the best experience for their clients. This includes working with other agencies, coworkers they may not like, etc. Lastly, this internship has taught me that you need to keep your email organized, because boy do you get a lot of them! Keeping everything organized has helped me when I need to reference past documents and/or previous emails. Overall, it just leads to a more productive personal work environment in general. All of these things I have learned just within the first several weeks of the internship and I have many more weeks to go, where I anticipate learning even more.
Is there a particular specialty within the field you are now more determined to pursue?
Through working with a variety of different roles within the company, I still am not completely sure, however, I do know I want to work with social media a lot. I really enjoy creating that sort of content. Despite the fact that my advisor isn’t necessarily a part of that specific part of advertising, she has given me opportunities to try that out in addition to helping her with her account management work. I do know that I need to be creatively challenged in whatever job position I hold in the future, because I feel as though I can just work and work on that sort of stuff until it’s perfect, to the point where it’s past my 10 am-5 pm work hours at times.
What positive aspects of the business did you discover through your work at this site?
I think there are many positive aspects of Levlane. For one, they hire many Temple graduates, which is hopeful for me! Additionally, they are a very inclusive and welcoming environment, which I value a lot. You spend the majority of your time at work so it should be at least somewhat of an enjoyable experience. I also think that it has been great to see that there are just as many females as males working at Levlane. Advertising tends to be perceived as a traditionally male dominated industry. Lastly, the great amount of flexibility the company allows its employees due to family and or personal circumstances. I think being able to feel like you can take time off, whether that be to take care of/be with a loved one or yourself, is extremely important.
Did you meet people who inspired you?
I met so many people who inspired me at levlane, particularly my female coworkers. There’s something so empowering about hearing women speak up in work meetings or taking the lead in projects. I think it’s very important for my own self confidence to see other women be powerful and confident in the workplace. Specifically, my advisors Dana and Julia inspire me a lot. Dana not only works full time, but also is a fitness instructor on the side and is a mother to a child under one. It is truly amazing to see her work so hard at Levlane, while tackling everything else. Julia is extremely meticulous about all of her work and is such a calm presence. She has taught me a lot about the importance of being extremely detail oriented within the industry. I’m really lucky to have them both helping me learn and grow so much in such a positive way!
Was the experience everything you thought it would be? How did it differ from your original expectations? What do you wish you had done differently?
Obviously I wasn’t able to predict the experience perfectly, but it was what I thought it would be in some ways and not at all in others. The things I expected were for it to be a lot of learning, for things to feel confusing at first and to understand the industry better. One thing I didn’t expect is how casual the industry is these days. Going into the office, everyone’s in jeans and t-shirts. Often times Levlane’s clients will talk to employees as if they were old friends. It’s all very funny to me because I think I thought things would be a lot more professional and serious, but I think as a whole, society is just becoming more casual. Plus advertising is a very different world from the finance/wall street world. I also didn’t expect to feel so at ease during my internship. I often see interns pictured as doing things such as getting their bosses coffee but that isn’t the case at all. Dana and Julia certainly are putting me to use but on things that are very useful for me to learn for my future career. I think I wish I hadn’t gone into the internship being so timid. I tend to feel the need to gain the right to talk which can be a good thing but also a bad thing. I want to work on not hiding my personality just to be overly polite at the start.
Can you pinpoint specific things you gained from the experience?
Because this is my first internship pertaining to the advertising industry, I think that in itself is a specific gain. I need this experience in order to launch myself into the workforce and be recognized as a qualified candidate for a long term job. Additionally, I think overall communication skills are a very important thing that I have gained from this experience. Although I considered myself a good communicator in the past, learning how to communicate via teams, on zooms and in business emails was extremely helpful in developing my communication skills. Finally, a specific gain is how much this internship made me realize that companies, especially Philly based ones, love Temple students. I am extremely excited to enter the workforce with a degree from Temple now!
Autumn,
I love that your female coworkers inspired you so much! I also had a female supervisor for my internship and it’s so refreshing and motivating to see women being successful in industries that are mainly dominated by men. She was also a mother to a toddler, which boggled my mind every day as to how she could juggle so much at once. It’s super interesting to hear that you also felt like the workplace was much less intense than you thought it would be, because I had the same experience. Everyone was so welcoming and helpful.
Hey Autumn,
Glad to hear that you’ve had a great experience at your internship! That’s awesome that you got to see women stand up in meetings and have a real voice, and I’m sure that will lead to much more confidence for yourself going forward. It’s interesting how you said you’ve learned that you must know how to communicate in many different ways, and that seems to be a real key to succeeding.
Hi Autumn,
Happy to hear you are enjoying your experience. I felt like I had to comment on your post because we are co-workers 🙂 I remember you mentioning you were excited to learn more about the account management side of advertising, I’m glad to hear you are learning a lot and are liking it! I agree completely, LevLane has been a great place to work and has been a wonderful experience! Hope to see you soon 🙂
Hi Autumn,
It is so refreshing to learn that your coworkers inspire you so much! As an intern, it is so intimidating to enter the workforce with established peers, however, learning from people passionate about their job is such an amazing feeling. It must also feel so relieving that the company has a history of hiring Temple graduates.
Autumn,
I love that your female coworkers inspired you so much! I also had a female supervisor for my internship and it’s so refreshing and motivating to see women being successful in industries that are mainly dominated by men. She was also a mother to a toddler, which boggled my mind every day as to how she could juggle so much at once. It’s super interesting to hear that you also felt like the workplace was much less intense than you thought it would be, because I had the same experience. Everyone was so welcoming and helpful.
Hey Autumn,
Glad to hear that you’ve had a great experience at your internship! That’s awesome that you got to see women stand up in meetings and have a real voice, and I’m sure that will lead to much more confidence for yourself going forward. It’s interesting how you said you’ve learned that you must know how to communicate in many different ways, and that seems to be a real key to succeeding.
Hi Autumn,
Happy to hear you are enjoying your experience. I felt like I had to comment on your post because we are co-workers 🙂 I remember you mentioning you were excited to learn more about the account management side of advertising, I’m glad to hear you are learning a lot and are liking it! I agree completely, LevLane has been a great place to work and has been a wonderful experience! Hope to see you soon 🙂
Hi Autumn,
It is so refreshing to learn that your coworkers inspire you so much! As an intern, it is so intimidating to enter the workforce with established peers, however, learning from people passionate about their job is such an amazing feeling. It must also feel so relieving that the company has a history of hiring Temple graduates.