In the beginning, I was afraid that there would be no possible internship because of the pandemic and that I would have to waste three months. I still wanted to try it. So I applied for an internship in a marketing department. To my surprise the marketing team of the Karlshochschule International University was happy to get me on board. It was very important for me to see how the work in a real marketing department is done and what tasks I will have to do in my future professional life after finishing my marketing studies.
Practice is essential to understand how to apply theory. Since I’m in my second corona semester, I had no possibility to work in a group or get insights into the working life of companies and organizations.
Even though I had to work from home during my internship, I was treated like a full-fledged staff member and was able to work on fascinating projects, like writing a Spotify commercial or informing myself and my team members about new social media advertising, for example, on TikTok. The marketing department gave me the responsibility to call agencies and talk to possible partners. Personally, I would say it was an important experience to understand the communication between partners, the company and of course the employees. Working with the marketing team was a lot of fun. Not only could I develop my social skills, but also discipline myself while working at home.
Speaking of the team, at Karls the working environment equals a family. So the hierarchy is flat and it’s a pleasant experience to talk to your boss or coworkers, who ask you about your interests from the start and involve you in projects that suit you best. Nobody was ever annoyed by my questions but rather tried to give me as much valuable information as possible, so I was able to figure out a lot by myself. The traditional internship prejudice about serving coffee all day long and printing out documents thankfully did not apply to Karls.
One more important thing I have to say about my experience is that when I started my internship, I thought I would work in a big company as a marketing manager after my studies since that is the go-to statement of many people and universities. However, Karlshochschule and its team gave me a new perspective on working in a small group of people and the opportunity to bring in my own ideas and be part of the project, or even become an entrepreneur and not just a number in a bigger system.
All in all, I was happy to do my internship in a non-profit organization like Karls and enjoyed the unique atmosphere and the people creating it. I thank them a lot for having me in their marketing team and would be happy to keep in touch!
By Elisabeth Koretnikov, Marketing und Medienmanagement at the Hochschule Heilbronn
*Karlshochschule is an educational institution and a non-profit organization as well. We want to encourage individuals and young people to take responsibility, find their own voice and initiate change in a sustainable and tolerant way. Listening to different opinions not only promotes different perspectives, but also discourse. The content of this blog is characterized by the diverse experience and opinions of the authors, which may not be the majority opinion of the university, but provokes reflection and discussion.