I’ve been at the SKM Group 3 times a week for about 3 weeks now. Twice a week I am in from 9 to 5, and boy does it feel long sometimes! Wednesdays I’m in from 1pm until 5, and depending on what I’m doing that day, those 4 hours may or may not be long as well. However, I am not saying that I dislike how the internship is going. It’s been an interesting learning experience.

My previous internship at The Martin Group gave me a base experience in the media buying department, a field that not too many people get into around Buffalo. Now fast forward to the SKM Group. Their team consists of three media buyers, all responsible for different aspects of buying and negotiation of air/TV time. I’m learning more and more about their media buying software. Most days I work with the media department, I input information (like dates, prices, run time, vendor, etc.) into the system. Although a bit monotonous, it helps keep track of buys, whether things ran and when, so it is necessary work for the job. I have also shadowed different departments and sat in on a few meetings to experience other aspects of agency life. My supervisor is the traffic manager, and he did not want to “pigeon hole” me into just one department. It has been interesting sitting in meetings, especially creative ones with SKM’s well known clients. One of the people I met with is called the “LinkedIn expert” around the office. He looked over my page and gave me some very useful advice on how to improve it and how to network with people through the site.

I am seeing how the whole agency fits and works together. Maybe I’ll stick with media buying, or maybe I’ll decide that I want to do something completely different within an agency. That is the whole purpose of an internship, right? And no, I am not going to be one of those annoying people who freaks out about being so “old.” Yes, I have major decisions to make after this internship. I am officially graduated from college at the end of July after all…. But I am not “old.”  Whatever I decide to do, I will have some pretty good experience from SKM Group (and The Martin Group) for a good future. Once I retire from a long successful career, that’s the day I call myself “old.”