Today I have reached the final day of my internship here at BCM in Sydney, which has left me filled with a mixed bag of emotions: sad (to leave), proud (of what I have achieved), happy (to be going to finish my last semester of uni ever), enlightened (from what I have observed and the tasks I have completed), and finally excited as I have now re-confirmed my decision to work in advertising, and further confirmed my interest into the strategic planning field.
Since starting here two weeks ago, I have had the chance to meet a lot of interesting people with such a wide range of skills and talent, who were ever so helpful and welcoming towards me from day one. I’ve got to work on a few big scale clients including Radio Rentals, Sunbeam, and Artline. I got to work in a range of different departments including: Account service, Media, and Creative.
Although we get to work on real life clients at university, it still does not compare to the calibre of work that is done here at BCM. It has been great to see behind the scenes of how an agency functions from how meetings are booked to how pitches are pitched. From just observing the work done here in Sydney, it is inspiring to see the constant thinking, and innovative ideas that are developed here.
Since I started on my first day doing research on the current clients, my eyes and ears suddenly appeared to become more open and absorbent, as I have realised how competitive this industry is. Gerry had asked me to check the news websites as well as Adnews and B&T each day, and although I am already a current user of those sites, I only seemed to use them when I needed something, but it has now become my new daily habit, and I now feel weird if I haven’t done my morning lap around the news sites. So thanks Gerry for giving me another reason to procrastinate whilst avoiding uni work!
But all in all I have had a great two weeks here at BCM in Sydney, and I hope to possibly return to do another two weeks here in my next break in September. Thank you so much to Gerry for giving me this opportunity and making it all possible, and thank you to everyone at the BCM team in Sydney for being so kind and making the effort to give me an insight into your lives. To all of you I didn’t get to meet in Brisbane – I hope I will get to meet you one day.
Melanie Thorne Charles Sturt University Student
Wow sounds like you had a great experience!
Good on you Mel. At the risk of sounding a little ‘Dad-like’ it’s really nice to see a young person with such a ‘can do’ attitude. Often interns create work for us but you did the opposite – you were a great help. Hope to see you back at BCM soon.
Ditto to what Paul said Mel.
And I will add a thank you from all of us in Sydney for the chocolates.
Another effective strategy.
Mel, it is so great to see a uni student prepared to put in the hard yards doing real work experience. This will hold you in good stead when you look for a job. I always prefer to employ graduates who have some “real world” agency experience. Shows that they are prepared to give up their own time to get a head start on their career. Good luck!
You’ve set the bar very high for us all in Sydney now Mel – Geoff and Tony refuse to accept any creative brief from account service unless it’s accompanied by a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne! It was a real pleasure to have you as part of our team and importantly, your application, enthusiasm and the energy that you bought to the agency in the short time you were with us was infectious – hark at me sounding all Dad-like…best wishes for the remainder of your course and don’t forget to keep in touch.