Wake-Up Call: I’m Graduating Soon
I have been determined to have a career in advertising ever since my junior year of high school. I came into college with my declared major in Advertising Account Management, and then later decided to get a Business Studies minor in order to expand my resume. So when I got the internship at Levlane in the Account Management department, I was ecstatic. I came into the job with the idea that this is exactly what I want to do with my future.
After this summer, I only have one more semester left in college. That pretty much leaves me with 5 more months to finish my classes and start applying for jobs. Although I have been 100% behind my advertising career for the last 5 years, my internship at Levlane has shown me that there are so many other options out there. Some of the people in the office have worked in fields not even remotely related to advertising, such as history, education, etc. Even though I have truly enjoyed my internship, I’ve come to realize that there are a ton of different paths that I can take. A college degree is a college degree and it doesn’t limit you specifically to that industry.
Maybe I want to go into marketing and work for a brand (and eventually get a Masters)? Maybe I want to look into event planning or project management? Maybe I want to dive into the fashion world and become a buyer for a major retailer? Or maybe I do want to stay in advertising? Maybe I will continue with advertising just to change my mind in 10 years? Honestly, anything can happen. And if I don’t figure it out within the next 5 months, I’ll be fine. I can change my mind down the road if I want to. So now that I have done an internship in the advertising industry, hopefully I can get another one for the upcoming semester in a different field to help me make my decision. I think that it is extremely important to experience different types of fields so that you are completely sure of the path you have chosen. And I think it is extremely important to love what you are doing. You should want to go to work everyday.My internship has given me basic skills that I need to be successful, regardless of where I end up.
I am impressed that you were able to realize all of this in July because I have just came to that realization now. This semester I took a class in event planning and we just got done giving presentations on event professionals we interviewed. It was so interesting to see how everyone had such different paths to their current job. Granted this for event planning and not advertising but I think it still applies. Our whole lives have been spent in classes and we are about to enter the working world. The crazy thing is we will be working about three times the amount we have spent in school. That’s a very long time and time to make career swaps if wanted. I am nervous to jump into the quote unquote real world but it’s comforting realizing that whatever job I start out with does not mean that I will be stuck with it for a lifetime. I enjoyed reading your post and wish you luck after your years at Temple.