Full name: Margaret Finerty
Hometown: Vernon Hills, Illinois
Major and Class Standing: Intercultural Communication and Spanish, Junior
Social Media Handle: Instagram: @megfinerty, Twitter: @megfinertyx
Internship Company/Organization Name: Celpax
Location of Internship: Remote
Program Type: Global Remote Internship Program
My internship title was Staff-Onboarding Communications Intern. Originally, I was brought on board to assist in an onboarding project. However, I had a few more roles to play than just that. For example, I was in charge of translating documents, setting up email campaigns for clients, navigating a marketing software. I like to say that I did a lot of the behind-the-scenes work.
My daily routine looked different every day. On the days I met with my supervisor, Rebecca, I usually woke up at 7:30 am for an 8 am meeting for about 30 min to an hour, then I would get to doing my schoolwork and internship work. On days where I didn’t meet with Rebecca, I made sure to ask her what I could do to help out that day and get it done.
I found out about MSU’s Global Remote Internship Program through my roommate and that’s what led me to my internship. Because I couldn’t study abroad this year, this internship fulfilled that requirement. We met with an advisor together, applied for the program, and were accepted. Then, we met with an instructor from Connect-123 (a company specializing in placing college kids in internships based on their career interests) to discuss what kind of internship we were looking for, and eventually we were assigned companies to interview us.
My favorite part of my internship was translating blog posts, emails, and other documents from Spanish to English or vice versa. I not only got to use my Spanish, but I also really felt like I was contributing to the company. My least favorite part of the internship was probably trying to navigate and familiarize myself with an online marketing automation software. Just saying it is a mouthful! Not to mention, I don’t have any experience with any software like this whatsoever, so it was pretty challenging.
From this internship, I learned that I really enjoy the concept of onboarding, whether it’s for an internal employee or a client. I knew I was interested in organizational communication, and parts of my internship definitely solidified that. However, I also learned I want nothing to do with marketing or coding of any sort! I hope to find a job in Human Resources in a multinational corporation (hopefully one that works with Spanish speaking countries)! In terms of skills I learned, there aren’t many other than maneuvering software and creating fun little informational videos. However, I definitely built upon my time management skills, interpersonal skills (especially upward communication), and my Spanish writing skills.
To other students looking for internships, I say don’t be too picky! Chances are, no internship is going to have exactly what you want. My internship didn’t reflect what I want to do in the future, but it was such a great learning experience! I’m so glad I didn’t pass up this opportunity because it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, because now I have hands-on experience that I can use to look back on.
