From an Intern’s Perspective
If you are from Texas, you know the different stereotypes that come along with each large metropolitan area. From Houston, to Austin, to Fort Worth, to Dallas, the reputation these places possess may be the reason some people choose to flock to, or potentially even decline a job. But are the rumors true? Do these cities & company cultures live up to their stereotypes?
I did not know exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their life when entering college. In fact, it took changing my major a few times to realize what I enjoy. All that I knew was that I was passionate about people and writing; so naturally, public relations was a great fit. I decided the best way to figure out what I wanted to do was to get out into the real world. So, I applied for internships all around the metroplex.
I was offered opportunities to intern at both a large, corporate company in downtown Dallas, and in the Near Southside area of Fort Worth, here at J.O.; so I chose both! Working for these companies has been such a great learning experience and has helped me see what I am looking for in a future job. Originally, I was very intimidated by the idea of working a 9-5 job in any big city, but had no idea the difference in culture there was between these cities.
My titles were “Public Relations and Agency Intern” at J.O. and “Advertising and Marketing Intern” at my Dallas internship. I knew that for both of these jobs, I would work more on the sales side as opposed to the writing side, but I did not realize how different they would be because of their geographical locations.
Besides the traffic and parking complications of my first day in Dallas, I was underwhelmed with the amount of enthusiasm my coworkers possessed. There was just a sense of mundanity amongst the office and as an eager college student, I felt discouraged. I went in expecting the ~Anne Hathaway meets Devil Wears Prada~ atmosphere but quickly realized my duties were a lot less prominent.
I thought that intern duties would at least include going on coffee runs, making phone calls, and picking up the slack where needed but I found myself leaving early every day because I ran out of things to do. Don’t get me wrong, I think that the full-time employees had their plates full and were excited about their jobs. They just did not seem to prioritize pouring that knowledge or sense of belonging to the interns.
The following day, I started at J.O. The team taught me what it takes to run a marketing agency and was eager to get me involved. Within the first week, I had not only taken over all of the social media channels, but I took the lead on the summer intern project and even ran my first meeting.
Dana, our senior account executive, took me under her wing and showed me this ins-and-outs of working with big-name clients. We brainstormed on ideas and she pushed me to be confident in my creativity and think outside of the box. I also had the opportunity to dip my toes in production and help film a commercial for one of our clients. My favorite part of being on the J.O. team was our morning “scrum” meetings where we discussed our tasks for the day and figured out how to help each other. This painted a picture of teamwork and showed that we all have a common goal of bettering J.O.
I enjoyed working at both of these companies because each of them taught me so much. Not only about myself, but about what I am looking for in a future career. I love the fast-paced hustle of downtown, but learned how important community-based culture is to me. Though I have only experienced the company culture of two specific places, the overall vibe of the Dallas business world appears to be an “every man for himself” mentality as opposed to the “we are all in this together” philosophy in Fort Worth.
Maddie Sanders
Marketing Intern
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