Texas State University Account Planning Blog: Internship tips from a Bromley Account Planning intern

by Gigi Taylor

As professor in an applied academic program like advertising, I sometimes feel I am just as much an internship/job counselor as I am a teacher. I am often the link between my professional contacts in agencies who are looking for fresh talent and my account planning students who are eager to get their first break in advertising.

Michelle Castañeda, from my Fall 2008 class, landed an account planning internship this Spring 2009 semester at Bromley Communications in San Antonio by doing everything right: she excelled in my class; she reached out to me for help with interships; and she arranged a job shadowing experience at Bromely through the Texas State Career Services Office. During her agency interview, she used her class project book to demonstrate the account planning skills she learned in my class.

Below are Michelle's tips on getting an internship. The pictures were taken on a recent trip of mine to Bromley. I was eager to see a former student in account planning action. Here is a staged picture of Michelle reviewing some research documents, taking notes and talking on the phone. In reality, after we went to lunch, she had plans to go out on the streets of downtown San Antonio and conduct "person on the street" video interviews for her client.

by Michelle Castañeda

Time and time again, the importance of internships has been stressed to us as students. Not only can it be difficult to beef up your resume to stand out, but it seems to be a challenge just to get the interview and land the internship.

When applying for internships, it’s important to apply everywhere you can and make sure you don’t limit yourself to one or two places. Some big companies get hundreds of resumes every semester so it’s important to keep in mind that not every place you apply to is going to respond. It’s also helpful to find out whom you can contact directly. Find a contact in the department you’re interested in and email your resume to them directly. This keeps you from applying to HR or online and getting thrown into a pile with the other applicants; although, I would suggest doing both of these.

Also, get involved at school as much as possible! Organizations such as Ad Club and AAF give you great experience and also help you network. Ad Club offers the opportunity to travel within the state as well as out-of-state to visit various agencies. Not only are you able to hand professionals your resume in person, but it gives you an “in” to impress them later with what you learned about their agency from visiting. If you’re unsure about what area you would like to go into, agency visits as well as guest speakers give you a chance to learn more about each field straight from a professional. Most agencies prefer when you show interest in one area when applying for an internship, even if their internship program gives you a perspective on all areas.

Another helpful tip is networking! networking! networking! This goes hand-in-hand with contacting people directly as well as getting recommendations from not only your peers but your professors as well. Your professors know more people in the industry than you can even begin to believe. They’re there to help you succeed not only in the classroom but in the professional world as well. With this, make sure you take advantage of your classes and projects. Not only are you able to include any classroom experience on your resume, but also any projects you produce in class can be taken to your interviews!

Gigi’s account planning class was a great experience for me! I took my Account Planning project book with me to my interview and it gave me something to talk about while showing my experience at the same time. That book and networking with my professor (Gigi Taylor) helped me land my current internship at Bromley Communications, and it’s been an awesome experience!

All of these things have also helped me become a better intern! One of my friends had mentioned before that she wished she had had the knowledge that she has now, back when she had one of her first internships. The knowledge I've gained from Ad Club, AAF and my account planning class with Gigi has helped me ask informed questions at my internship and therefore better my learning experience at Bromley. Even the creative brief is very, very similar to the ones we did in class.