A lot can happen in ten weeks.

You can travel to a different country, start your own vegetable garden, pick up tap-dancing, learn how to say millennial in 34 different languages, or even do a pretty rad internship at a pretty rad company.

If you’re like me, a college student/recent grad, still trying to pave the path of your career with skills and experiencing anxiety all over the place, Ardent is a great place to start things off. Small but mighty, they offer that “big agency” feel, while maintaining a very comforting sense of company culture and light-hearted humor.

As any intern should, I made my time there a period to learn, gather, and process as much information as my 23-year old brain could manage. With that being said, I’ve created a small list of “dos and don’ts” that’ll (hopefully) help ease you through that “intern-life.”

3 things you should do

ASK QUESTIONS.

I can’t stress this enough! If you don’t know something, ask. Curious about feedback on a task completed? Just ask! You’re there to learn and ultimately grow in your career, so absorb the knowledge! They won’t think you’re annoying. Ask questions so you can flourish.

SIT IN ON MEETINGS

There will be times when you may feel a little confused, but meetings are a great way to generally understand the weekly rundown-process of a digital marketing team. (And before you know it, you’ll be incorporating words like “branding” and “strategies” into your everyday vocabulary).

BE CLEAR ABOUT DEADLINES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE GOING TO MISS THEM.

A simple “Hey Meghan, I think I’m going to be a day late with task ‘xyz’ goes a much longer way than finishing a task three days late and acting like you’re completely under the radar.

3 things you shouldn’t do

SKIP OUT ON TASKS.

To quote one of my favorite novels, Dictionary by Merriam Webster, to be an intern is “to provide a period of service.” In other words, this isn’t the type of place where your sole purpose is to get coffee and then just look through Instagram for two hours. Be prepared to get some work done!

WASTE TIME.

No-brainer, right? Don’t make things take longer than they need to.  Ardent is organized when it comes to your tasks, so reciprocating organization with an uninterrupted work ethic will definitely go a long way in your internship.

LACK ORGANIZATION.

From spreadsheets to Google calendars, getting organized is refreshingly smooth in the field of digital media. Going off of “wasting time,” Ardent gives you all of the tools and information to be an organized worker-bee. (It’s just up to you to utilize them.)

In Conclusion

As my last snippet of advice, it’s important to remember that being an intern can feel a little intimidating at times. That’s completely normal! Don’t stress, and remember that you’ll ultimately get out of this internship exactly what you put into it. (Unless you’re showing up everyday in an accurate wardrobe-replication of Hulk Hogan… then I’m not really sure what you’ll get).

Good luck!
This post was written by Amber Nasser, Social Media & Marketing Intern