Newsletter #35. I wish I knew it when I was 20

Hi everyone!

Some of you might have noticed that there’s been a 2-weeks gap between my newsletter. I decided to give myself a break and got some time to recover last weekend, so I skipped 1 week of newsletter.

Also, I would be grateful if you can help me grow my audience if you find this newsletter helpful 😉 

Today, I've decided to share some personal stories. I want to tell you about my first job and I hope we all might find something useful in it.

Internship opportunities 🧑‍🎓

I began my work journey when I was a 20-year-old 3rd-year student. I joined as a marketing intern at a pharmaceutical company.

Looking back, I understand that it might have been one of the best options to begin my career journey.

Here's why:

1️⃣ First of all in my 20s, I joined a well-established corporation with various management processes. It was a great place to learn how a multinational corporation works.

2️⃣ Second, since it was a well-established company with multiple processes, there was a solid process for working with us, the interns. We had development plans since the day 1, and we received proper onboarding. Another thing was that in the marketing department, every brand manager had an intern or two. Therefore managers had the right expectations for how to work with interns. And more than that, this intern community then became some sort of an alumni club.

I believe that internships in big corporations are great opportunities for students, and I believe it might be a great first step for you to begin your career.

You'll understand how the "classic" processes work. You will see all the processes and approaches they write about in those business books. In my case, that included brand strategy design, classic annual performance reviews, customer data analytics with the market research team, and advertisement materials approval processes, among others.

Today, a lot of people dream of working in startups since their high school, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, before you join places that are changing the world, it might be worth knowing how the world works first 🧙

Fight the imposter 🐙

There’s another point I’d like to share with you regarding this internship experience and I believe this might be helpful for everyone who is in the beginning of their career journey.

When I joined the marketing team I didn't have a marketing education, while other interns did. Can you imagine the level of imposter syndrome I had at that time? I literally thought every day that someone would come and "expose" me.

I also remember that no matter what they taught me in school or at the university, when I joined, there was a huge, steep learning curve for me.

What really helped me at that time is the approach of my manager.

We agreed on two key areas where I should excel. We chose market analysis and presentation skills to become my key strengths. That gave me a solid focus. I didn't know it yet, but I was thinking about these goals as my personal development OKRs - high-level, hardly achievable, inspiring, bold development goals.

This focus, along with the intern community and persistence in doing the work to the best of my ability, really helped me to combat imposter syndrome. This became my first significant professional win. I knew that I won when I became the go-to person in the team for all market analysis and presentation-related activities.

Why have I decided to share this story?

Because I believe that this story can give you several tips at the beginning of your career.

1. Imposter syndrome is strong; it exists and follows us in every job. But it can be overcome. There are various tips and approaches to deal with it. What worked for me is consistent work, focus on development goals, and a community of fellow interns dealing with the same problems.

2. I believe an internship is a great opportunity for all students and young professionals to gain experience and learn how the corporate world works. I always recommend it to students and young professionals who want to gain corporate experience, who want to get the basics, and who want to be properly prepared for the world of work. I believe that students should try to get some internship experience during their studies and gain some work experience. This will help them defeat this famous meme.

That's it for today! Have a great, productive week ahead, and make sure you learn something new 😉