Level Up: From Intern to Executive

by Elaine Seah PR Veteran and Architect

We welcome creativity!

Fresh perspectives and new ideas continue to chart our corporate culture. With that, we have welcomed a multitude of talents of different background, ages and culture. Among those who have walked through our doors is an intern who eventually joined the team as an account executive. The following is an honest account of what he has applied to nail his conversion from an intern to an executive:

“With great power comes great responsibility. ” – Voltaire or Spiderman. However, we believe the second part of the phrase goes like this: “The greater the responsibility, the stronger the coffee.“

Evolve like a Pokemon

Advancing to an executive from an intern is akin to the evolution of a Metapod into a Butterfree. How do Pokemons evolve? Experience. How does one gain experience? Battles a.k.a. doing the work or getting a ‘beating’ from the boss.

Whatever the beating is, it’s important for interns to learn as much that they can during their internship. It never hurts to go the extra mile or two because the more you do the more you learn. In fact, these competencies are continually refined to pave the way to greater responsibilities and opportunities.

For those who thought they could rely solely on their books or looks to survive their internship, I bear bad news because your actions are a greater proof of your abilities and better at convincing your employer to offer you a permanent position.There’s no shortcut, unless your family owns the business then congratulations.

Taking Orders vs Taking Ownership

If you want to nail that job, move away from taking orders to taking ownership.

Many interns feel that they should just deliver based on instructions. That is not true. Lack of confidence and thence fear of making mistake are the greatest barriers. Move beyond taking orders to taking ownership is the best and surest way to prove that you are able undertake projects and tasks without much hand-holding.

To take ownership is to see things from different perspective – clients, superiors, subordinates (which in the case of interns does not apply), and deliver the praiseworthy works.

Without the safety net that most interns enjoy, a missed deadline or a campaign idea that missed the mark is no longer an easily dismissed. Sounds tough? But this is where the real fun begins.

DidYouKnow: Interns at Brand Inc. do not run irrelevant errands such as picking up the boss’ dry cleaning or coffee for the team. They are fully immersed in the work of the team.

Join in on the Fun

Before starting as an intern, I had the presupposition that an agency life would be extremely stressful. One really can’t be blamed to think that way with the different cases of karoshi in agencies in history. Nonetheless, working in an agency can be extremely rewarding and fun with the right corporate culture.

At Brand Inc, everyone’s views and inputs, even those of interns, are encouraged and acknowledged. We always make sure work is fun. Each team member is given room for creativity and experimentation. Want to relate Game of Thrones and Star Wars with PR? Go for it! Sometimes, the most ingenious ideas are born out of dabbling with something seemingly irrelevant. This, of course, also makes it the worse or best excuse for procrastination.

There you have it, this is how you transform and break free from being a Metapod to eventually land yourself a job after an enjoyable internship.

About Dominic

Professional stalker. Extremely vulnerable to pretty packaging and discounts. Spends eight hours sleeping; 24 hours dreaming. Approach with ~~caution.~~ food.