Alexa Sinatore, ’18

As the Social Media Intern my duties included researching and producing draft content for the Lexacount Search blog and other social media platforms, including, but not limited to, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Twitter. I also had additional duties of social media research and article curation. Additionally, I participated in client and candidate research and outreach, as well as other projects, as necessary.

My duties as an intern included developing 2-3 content postings related to blogs, case studies, video scripts and testimonials from employers or employees. I was also involved in various projects that included content development to assist the search in recruiting efforts utilizing a variety of social media platforms. In addition, I was responsible for research and outreach related to client and candidates. In terms of skills, I learned to manage my time with scheduled and unscheduled assignments, in addition to my coursework. I also learned to research content that was very new to me and I gained experience writing blogs in a new area and about legal practices. This also included becoming more aware of developing content for a business rather than for my education or personal reasons.

I applied to this internship online on Lexacount's website. I did two interviews before I received the internship. I conducted a lot of research in different areas that I thought I would be interested in learning more about. My background helped me get this job. In my courses, I have done a lot of writing and reflecting on the work that I've done and wanted to use these skills to gain more knowledge about different areas such as writing for social media and to get more experience.

Various courses at SJU have prepared me for this internship. I feel that all of my Communication Studies major courses have helped me prepare through project work, developing content, and learning communication strategies and principles. The Communications Theory/Practice and Ethics in Communications courses gave me a good overall foundation about effective communication, writing for your audience and guidelines for ethical content development. Civic Media helped me to focus and learn about engaging audiences. Visual Rhetoric and Web Design educated me on both design and technical skills in producing aesthetic, quality digital content through many techniques. Many of the projects for these courses also gave me the opportunity to enhance my public speaking and gain confidence, which helped me interact in a professional setting with others. I also feel that my art courses (Digital Photography and Drawing) have taught me to bring creativity to my communications style and make it appropriate for the audience. Of course, many other courses, including English, Information Systems, Psychology and Philosophy all involved both written and oral communications which prepared me for interacting and communicating with others. Many of my courses have allowed me to learn and improve my oral and written communication skills, in addition to learning the technical skills of digital media which helped me to prepare for this internship.

Step out of your comfort zone and try to experience as much as you can. If you get an opportunity that you are hesitant about and that may not be your first choice, consider taking it. Most of the time the best experiences come when you least expect them and trying something different may lead to a new opportunity.