My name is Damien Adam; I'm from an Island off the coast of Madagascar called Mauritius. I have been in the states for over six years now. During that time, I have attended Rollins College where I studied International Business and went on to pursue an MBA with a concentration in Marketing at the Crummer Graduate School of Business.
After I graduated I started looking for a job, but nothing seemed really interesting until I met Isabella (another Rollins graduate). She shared she is developing a software product called Intern Pursuit to match employers to interns. She laid out different job options for me to choose, each one more exciting than the other. Once I had somewhat figured out what interested me the most, I was sent a series of assessments for three of my top job choices to ensure that my choice would be the best fit for both me and the company. I actually really enjoyed the assessments, as it gave me a sneak peek into what each option would really be like. I ended up getting hired at my number one choice, Affiliate Manager, so things worked out great!
For the past year, I have been working at Affiliate Manager, a marketing firm that specializes in both influencer marketing and Pay-per-click services. In four years of undergrad and two years of graduate studies, we really didn’t learn much about these two topics, which made it that much more interesting. I also learned some valuable soft and hard skills during my time there. If I had to name the top three most valuable skills I learned, it would go something like this:
1. Time Management / Self-Discipline We worked remotely for the majority of my time there, which started off as an enormous challenge but it eventually became easier to get everything done and to stay focused.
2. Adjusting to different work styles / way of doing things I had to prepare all the reports, prospecting, site optimization, etc for many different clients. As if that wasn’t enough, they each wanted it done in a slightly different way, which made my life harder but also provided me with valuable experience.
3. Process optimization As I started to have more control of the tasks I was in charge of, others encouraged me to improve the processes if I saw a flaw. So I became obsessed with efficiency. I wanted to be able to prepare a report or do a task in the fastest way possible, and that is now just a part of who I am.
The person that has had the greatest impact on me during my time there is definitely Claudia Bucaro. She is the one who interviewed me, trained me, and helped me all the way until the end. She knows basically everything about affiliate marketing and she was always able to explain it in a way that makes sense.
This unpaid internship lasted longer than any internship I’ve had in the past, for a total of six months. I was unsure about the commitment at first, but it turned out to be a learning experience during the entire time. At the end of the internship, I received a full time position offer. After accepting the offer, I have now been with Affiliate Manager almost a year (six months as an intern, couple of months full time) and get to train the new interns. This has already helped my leadership skills significantly, as I had never been in the “trainer shoes” before.
As a final note: if you are a student looking for an internship, I would definitely recommend that you seek employment with Intern Pursuit. The main reason being is that you have more options, you don’t have to take the first offer that comes your way in fear that you won’t find something else you like better. And the assessment ensures you that it’s the right opportunity for both parties.