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“Experience required.” A little sentence found on a job posting that carries great magnitude for all those leaving college and looking to enter the workforce. After a lifetime of schooling, who has the time to gain the “experience required” that is necessary for most jobs? Enter: the internship.

I graduated with three summers of internships at the Philadelphia Phillies under my belt. There, I learned the value of effective and clear communication, public speaking skills, and far more. But, after deciding I wanted to enter the field of marketing and communications, I, like so many others, had absolutely no experience. I had to start somewhere, so six months after graduating, I began my internship with Zer0 to 5ive.

After starting with Zer0 to 5ive, I jumped in to find those areas where I could immediately begin contributing to the success of the company. I worked with various teams and clients across a range of vertical industries, assuming different roles and responsibilities, which included media list creation, editorial calendar generation, pitch development and distribution, and daily research.

I had no idea what any of this fully entailed just weeks before, but here I was in the midst of my internship learning more in just a few months than I ever did in four years of college (I am not saying college isn’t important, because it definitely is). Until you are truly thrown into real world working situations, it’s impossible to know how much you are capable of learning or the how quickly you can obtain skills in a short amount of time. My internship experience translated into real world working experience, as Zer0 to 5ive hired me full-time after four months.

A fellow co-worker, Maggie Deiseroth, also had two internships with Zer0 to 5ive during her college summers that led to being hired full time. Maggie says, “My internships at Zer0 to 5ive were the most valuable experiences I could have asked for in terms of preparing me for a potential career in PR and marketing. I was exposed to a variety of clients across different industries and was able to learn the necessary skills to be successful in the day-to-day tasks that our job requires.”

Ariela Weinberger, another colleague also started at Zer0 to 5ive as an intern. Ariela says, “My internship at 0to5 wasn’t about filing papers and getting coffee. Instead, I was given hands-on experience that not only allowed me to feel like a part of the team, but also solidified my desire to work in the field of communications. More than that, because of the range of duties I had during my internship, I was able to assess my own strengths and weakness as I learned from my colleagues at Zer0 to 5ive.”

Your college degree may open the door to a job interview, but it is not enough to ensure an interviewer that you have the skills necessary for the position you are applying for. At the end of the day, it’s those with the “experience required” that are set apart from all other applicants.

With so many interns translating to full-time hires, the Zer0 to 5ive team must be doing something right! However, it isn’t just a company’s responsibility to help interns grow and learn. Ultimately, it’s up to you. You are in control and can decide how much you want to learn, what skills you want to develop and strengthen, what questions you want to ask and how hard you want to work. The more proactive you are as an intern, the more transformative and valuable the experience will be.

Post by Emily Forgash
Associate Strategist