7 Traits Interns Should Master to Impress an Employer

by Mandi Davies, Marketing Manager, Braveda 

My own journey in marketing started later in life after ten years in the workforce, firstly in a library followed by a lengthy stint in the mines.

After a decade on the job, I decided to head back to uni and start a fresh career.  I studied marketing and in my final year met Braveda Founder Nina Christian at an event, did an internship and then was invited to join the team.

Fast forward a few years and I now have the privilege of working with lots of young marketers supporting the marketing internship program, overseeing projects at Braveda - and of course as resident Community Manager at Launch Your Marketing Career!

I recently sat down with our founder Nina Christian and asked her to list the top qualities she looks for in an intern. To my surprise, technical skills didn’t even make the top seven. In fact, the traits she listed take no skill at all – 75% of what employers are looking for is determination, focus and a whole lot of heart.

Of course, it’s important to showcase your talents and technical skills too – that goes without saying. But if an employers have two candidates for a position and they both have similar experience and set of technical skills – the thing that will help make the employers decision is their character and soft skills. 

Often when hiring an intern, companies aren’t simply trying to fill a position. They want to build ongoing pipelines. They want to hire potential employees who possess not just the technical skills the job requires, but also the interpersonal and communication skills to develop into strong, effective members of their team that can inspire others and contribute to team engagement.

Here’s the top seven qualities you should master, to impress your boss and land your dream marketing role.

1. Reliability

Employers want to know you’re going to get to work on time, consistently do your job to the best of your ability and stay in the job for longer than a few weeks.

When I was working in recruiting at the mines we would forever be on the hunt for new workers – everyone wanted to work in the mines, but no one wanted to do the work.

Landing an internship in your chosen field of marketing is a way to gain real experience and try out the role to make sure it's the right fit for you. It’s also an opportunity to gain hands on experience, that your peers won’t have – making you a more desirable candidate when it comes time to apply for your dream job.

If you don’t meet deadlines, don’t do what you say you’re going to do, present work that looks like you did it in 20% of the time you’ve been allocated, whine or don’t show up to your internship on time – it shows the employer you aren’t reliable and don’t really appreciate the opportunity you’ve been given.

Not the impression you want to make to the person who could potentially turn your work experience opportunity into your dream marketing role – either with them, or one of their contacts.

2. Initiative

Employers want to employ people who show initiative. The ability to be resourceful and work without always being told what to do requires resilience and determination and proves you will be capable of growing and developing in your role.

Your ability to find and solve problems and to meet and rise to challenges is important to employers – they need to see you can handle sticky situations.

When I was working on site I would often be the only person in the office for two or three days at a time. I had to use my initiative, often having to make decisions that would impact others down the track and always taking on extra responsibilities to make sure operations continued.

Employers want to see that you’re willing to do more than what is required, and that you’re willing to speak up and share your ideas.

3. Accountability

Accountability is important to a business’ success as a whole, and every employee no matter what level are equally responsible for aiding in the success of the company – including interns.

Just like ‘pump crew’ were responsible for doing the one percenters (making sure the stop sign was up, the water was pumping out of the pit or the equipment was correctly packed in the ute – it was these one percenters that helped our company achieve our daily production goals and got us one step closer to our long term target - completing mining production with our entire team returning home safe to their families at the end of the job.

Just like a well-oiled mining team (see what I did there?) – marketers at all levels need to be accountable for the tasks they've been assigned in order to reach goals the team set out to achieve.

 As an intern you aren’t going to have a syllabus that outlines your deadlines, so it’s up to you to organise your time and keep yourself accountable.

An intern who can demonstrate an ability to prioritise responsibilities and show up for work on time are going to be leaps ahead of the rest.

4. Teachability

 We don’t care that you went to a top-rated university and graduated with honours in marketing. Truly! We don’t care what your ATAR was in High School. I mean sure, those things are great! But it’s not what makes you a desirable marketer.

Let me be clear – I was a high school drop out, middle of the range mature-aged graduate with a mining administration background. Now? I’m a Marketing Manager at Braveda - named "Best Marketing Agency" at the 2018 Australian Marketing Excellence Awards.

 How did I get here? I’m teachable – and my hunger to learn runs deep. Employers want to know if you are teachable too. If you know how to listen. If you can take something, learn it, and then improve it.

 Employers are looking for the kind of interns that have a willingness to learn, make mistakes, be corrected, take feedback on board and then action it. How you respond to feedback when making a mistake is highly important to an employer – you need to be willing and able to address your weaknesses.

5. Communication

 It’s crucial that you be an effective communicator. Your ability to get your point across can be the difference between sealing a deal or completely missing out on an important opportunity.

Just imagine being that pit crew worker setting out the signs for circuit – and not clarifying whether the turn was a left or right. That inability to communicate, to clarify the finer details could land someone with a serious injury, or worse – dead!

Now I get that marketing’s a little different, and (hopefully) no lack of communication is going to land Freddy on the desk next door in hospital. But, your ability to write and speak professionally, to translate ideas and convey information is key in any field, whether it’s with your supervisor, co-workers or clients.

Good communicators understand their own strengths and weaknesses, so they know how to best contribute, as well as how to bring out the best in the others around them.

 Continually communicating with your team and keeping them up to date with what you’re working on and how the task is going will show you’re pro-active, capable and competent.

6. Lifelong Learner

 Formal education is something we all have to go through to get a degree, but the knowledge it offers isn’t always that practical in the real world. Lifelong learners recognise the importance of growth, so they never settle for what they currently know – they seek improvement, upskilling and training in their own time.

Marketing is an ever changing and evolving landscape and marketers are expected to be lifelong learners nowadays so that they can contribute new ideas and insights.

Ever heard the saying “If you aren’t growing, you’re dying”? In marketing terms, its true!

When I was entering my third year of university I sought out to undertake an internship. I knew there was more to the marketing industry then what I was learning and was desperate to apply my knowledge to the real world.

I took an unpaid internship, amongst running my own side hustle and working part time. It was a juggling act to say the least, my personal life took a back step and I lived and breathed work (unpaid and paid).

What did that do for me as a marketer? After completing my unpaid internship, I was offered a job! Marketing Assistant and then Account Manager at Braveda – I was working one on one with clients and part of projects I could have only dreamed (straight out of uni mind you!).

If I’d not been so eager to increase my knowledge professionally, I never would have made the sacrifice to commit to six months of unpaid work experience. And if I hadn’t made that commitment, I wouldn’t be sitting here today, Marketing Manager at Braveda, named "Best Marketing Agency" at the 2018 Australian Marketing Excellence Awards and working alongside Nina Christian, named Certified Practicing Marketer of the Year - Victoria.

7. Being Meticulous

Nowadays, 99% of interns say they have a strong attention to detail. Most say it because they aspire to do so, but never actually follow through – and it shows!

If you really care about your career, you’ll care enough to do a proper job of the tasks you’re set as an intern – that means putting in 100%, every day. Trust me when I say, if you do this – you will shine!

If you’re struggling with a task, ask a colleague or someone on the team that can help you. Have your work proof read by a peer or someone you can trust before sending it to your manager.

My mum is a teacher with a major in English literature and she’s someone I trust. She wouldn’t know the first thing about marketing and more than likely has no clue what I am waffling on about, but does she proof my work? Absolutely!

Bad spelling, poor formatting and a sloppy effort reflects on your level of professionalism and shows you don’t actually care about the task at hand or the opportunity you’ve been given.

So think twice before clicking send when submitting some work – is it the kind of work you would show proudly in an interview?

We’re committed to offering insight and solutions to the most common issues that young marketers face.