Intern Feature: Jonathan Bekele

This summer I worked for Boathouse Group, it's a marketing/ad agency based in Waltham, MA. There me and my peers were tasked with researching, developing, and coming up with a monthly marketing strategy to acquire new sign ups for the disability restaurant reservation service called Purple Tables, tasked with presenting to the client in an hour long presentation at the end of the internship, my team and I won over the client! I also worked in the media marketing department of the company and assisted in daily tasks such as screenshot power points, research for target markets, and invoices for various media outlets.

HOW DID YOU FIND THIS OPPORTUNITY?

I did various public speaking events in front of many influential individuals within the city of Boston about my life story over the course of the last year, and in may I spoke to over 1000 people and by networking heavily I was able to get a phone call interview for this position and got it the next day!

WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE LIKE AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

My experience was amazing, I learned a lot about team building, balancing workloads, and the ins and outs about marketing. I was also able to learn about my weaknesses early, learn how to improve, and was able to work on them throughout the internship so that I could reach my full potential by the end of the internship.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER STUDENTS?

Networking and being able to talk to any and different types of people has been key to my success. Don't be afraid to reach out to an individual with the thought process of being turned down, people are busy and consistency is key, they might not respond the first time but maybe the third or fourth time you can have a full blown conversation with your future employer, these relationships are priceless and will always be worth it in the long run.