Hi Deraj,

I loved how you displayed your string of internships through the connections you were able to build. It was a great demonstration of how important connections are in making it in advertising. In my current internship, I was able to make it in the door without any personal connections to their recruiters or anyone on staff. However, as soon as I was in, I started hearing familiar names of people I knew a while back/currently know. Knowing the right people is such a blessing to help boost your career, and Temple does a great job of making sure you make those connections.

Thanks for your post and the update. I remember having intro to advertising together and you always had such an amazing spirit and great attitude everyday. It sounds like to me you have had such great success so far and have put in a tremendous amount of work to get there. Prof Saewitz helped me out too my first semester here she is always looking to help and give back to her students. Honestly can say that about all of the profs here, at least for me.

I have FULL confidence that you are going to get that internship at META.I have a lot of good energy coming your way for that. The experience would be invaluable moving into your professional career.

Like you LinkedIn did wonders for me and I agree. Always being active on LinkedIn and communications can only strength your network. You let everyone know of the age old “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” I’ll add this one to it “A rising tide raises all ships.” You are pushing the bar higher and higher, thank you for setting such a great example for the rest of us to chance our dreams!

I loved to hear about your internship journey! I still miss our Intro to Adv class from before COVID.

I have had a similar experience with my internships. Many of my positions were also found through connections. I will absolutely use the advice you wrote about towards the end of you blog post. Being able to balance making genuine connections without looking like a shark can be difficult, but, in my experience, being nice and genuine will do the work for you. One of my professors says “people buy from people who they know, like, and trust.” I feel like the same can be applied to the networking/job search environment.

I also made an internship for myself prior to COVID. In my opinion, putting yourself out there and honing skills on your own can be the greatest learning experiences. I ran a media company with a fellow owl and learned so much about business, relationship building, and myself through the process.

It’s inspiring to see all you have accomplished and the success you have seen by as a result! I wish you the best of luck with Meta and hope it works out! Regardless, wherever you land will be lucky to have you and everything you bring to the table.

All the best,
Nick Tuverson