Isabel Harshe gained skills in brand strategy by managing TikTok content for The Mayfair Group.
How did you get your internship and why did you choose this opportunity?
I found my internship through a posting on Mayfair’s Instagram story. It detailed the position and responsibilities and included an email to send a resume and cover letter. I sent in my resume and cover letter but did not hear anything for about three weeks. I decided to follow up about the position via email and I was invited for an interview. After completing the interview, I was instructed to create a visual marketing brief outlining my ideas for TikTok and Instagram. I emailed my visual marketing brief and was offered the position!
I chose to complete this internship because I have been a longtime follower of The Mayfair Group. I have followed them since around 2019 and have been inspired by their work. When I applied for this internship, I did not think I had a strong chance at obtaining it because I am only a sophomore in college and thought they were looking for a junior or senior in college. I spent a lot of time crafting my cover letter and resume in a unique way that would set me apart from other applicants. I knew that if I got this position, I would learn so much from the experience because of how connected and passionate I have been to the brand from the beginning.
What kind of work did you do throughout your internship experience?
My work for my internship was social media based, focusing on Mayfair’s Instagram and TikTok. Most of my work involved ideating, shooting, and executing social media content for TikTok. Their main goal was to build their community and engagement on TikTok, so I helped develop ideas in weekly meetings. There was one other intern, so I worked closely with her to brainstorm ideas. I also assisted with their Instagram by helping to ideate post ideas, verbiage, caption ideas and was in charge of posting on Instagram. I also gained experience analyzing social media metrics and analytics, which I have never done before.
My favorite part of my internship was meeting and building relationships with all the people that work for Mayfair. Because I am a longtime supporter of the brand, it was thrilling to see and get to know the people behind it all. When I realized I would be in meetings about three times a week, I was nervous that it would consist of just sitting in on them and not having much of a say. But within the first week of joining these meetings, I quickly realized the lighthearted vibe. I also realized I have a big say in sharing and executing my ideas. Everyone who works at Mayfair is so genuine and uplifting, and it was meaningful to build these relationships throughout my internship experience.
One thing I found challenging about my internship was industry/brand knowledge and becoming fully aligned with the Mayfair brand. While I had a comprehensive understanding of the brand from a consumer perspective, I needed to learn the brand from the behind-the-scenes lens. I noticed this when in meetings as my coworkers were so aligned and knowledgeable about the brand from an insider standpoint. I understood this came from time and years of experience working there but, to help myself align with the brand voice, I actively looked through old postings on their Instagram to see how they phrase things and what tone of voice they have. This helped me when ideating captions and helped ensure that my captions aligned well with the brand voice and mission.
What is unique about your situation that influenced your internship selection?
One thing that was unique to my situation was the application process. I submitted my application at the beginning of January and followed up at the end of January. When I followed up with them, I assumed they found someone else to fill the position. I was hesitant to resend my application as, in the back of my mind, I thought it was too late to follow up. This proved wrong, though, when I got a response about five hours later asking if I was available for an interview. This was a unique experience because I fully believe that if I had not followed up, I would not have gotten the opportunity to interview.
How did your Applied Humanities major coursework help prepare you for the internship experience?
My Applied Humanities coursework helped prepare me for my internship experience immensely. For example, the PAH 383 Pre-Internship: Building Career Readiness course prepared me for the application process. Because of the resume building and LinkedIn profile workshopping we did in this course, my application was strong. It was so nice having this foundation of my application completed, so I could focus the majority of my time spent on the creativity aspect of the design brief.
What advice do you have for other students as they search for their internship?
My advice for students as they search for internships is to always follow up. The majority of the companies you are applying to are getting an overwhelming amount of applications, and the odds of your application getting lost in their inbox is very high. While it may seem like a personal thing that they are not getting back to you, it is most likely that it isn't, which is why it is so crucial to follow up. I genuinely believe that if I did not follow up I would have not gotten this opportunity.