Surrounding Myself In a Good Environment

I took away from this internship that the media industry is deadline oriented, fast paced, relationship-based.

During this spring semester, I have been interning at Harmelin Media, an independent media company based out of Bala Cynwyd. I have been on their Media Planning team and the experience has been great. I was unsure as to how well I would do balancing both school and an internship, but I was lucky enough to be blessed with three great supervisors. Two of my supervisors actually went to Temple, which gives us a good channel of conversation. My supervisors made it so easy for me to transition into my role and whenever I ask what I think is a stupid question, they always remind me that I am still learning & that they will answer all questions I have. It makes sense, but I also have heard people in the past who had difficult work experiences because they weren’t taken care of as well.

I have learned so much from them and it has only made me want to pursue my career in the media world more. I gained the ability to work on our biggest client (Aspen Dental) which gave me an experience I don’t think I would have had elsewhere. Working on this client has taught me that any work done needs to be triple checked and you have to be very cautious of deadlines. Another learning experience that will help me in the future is the ability to deal with clients. Clients can be difficult about what they want from you, as in modifying what they want when close to a deadline or completely changing what they asked for previously. It’s a difficult process but rewarding in the end. Three things I took away from this internship that will aid me in the future are that the media industry is deadline oriented, fast paced & you must be able to hold client relationships. My advice for anyone starting an internship would be to ask all questions. For one, your coworkers will not care because they are there to help you & you also don’t want to do the work wrong. Always be transparent with your coworkers if you don’t know what to do.

4 Comments

  1. Hey, Ryan,

    I think its incredibly cool that you got to work so closely with two Temple graduates. I was also very worried about how I would adjust to simultaneously working at an internship and going through school, but my support system helped me immensely. I’m sure that having someone like your supervisors who very closely understood your situation was very reassuring for you during your time at the company. Congratulations for learning so much, I think you made great points!

  2. I completely agree that internships in this field of study are mostly about starting, maintaining and learning how to keep or possibly end relationships as a professional. Open communication is key.

  3. It seems like you learned many valuable lessons throughout your internship at Harmelin Media. Being deadline oriented, fast paced, and building client relationships are things that are much easier said than done. The only way to truly learn these skills is to experience them. Congrats on the successful internship, I am sure it will help you throughout your career!

  4. I think you got three really good takeaways from this internship. Those lessons can be applied to any work situation and are great to keep in mind. Happy to hear you had a good internship and best of luck moving forward.

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