How to strategically get a marketing internship with no experience?
This article was first published in the downloadable first issue of markonmag. The article has since been updated and expanded upon by Nicole Ng.
Finding an internship with no experience and not knowing how to get started is tough.
You feel as though there is content when crafting that resume or cover letter, or even foundational knowledge on the roles or situations in the adult world to start chatting with working professionals.
Fortunately, marketing is a broad field where hard skills and soft skills can be picked up on your own to help you grow professionally. Internship-hunting may be daunting and we have all been there.
Here are nine actionable steps you can take to get your dream marketing internship even if you have no experience.
Step 1: Learn your own interest through a club or volunteer
Participating in school events, extracurricular activities or volunteer work provides the opportunity for you to know your strengths, weaknesses, and interests better.
For marketing, almost all experiences will provide the chance to learn the relevant skill sets and push yourself out of your comfort zone. This helps you gain a considerably clearer direction of which roles or industries to go into.
Previously, I had no experience and no understanding of a role that will fit me while looking for a marketing internship in Singapore.
To understand myself better, I joined various school events and assisted with various marketing activities. ‘This allowed me to put what I learned theoretically in my marketing classes to practice.
Step 2: Start building a network of mentors
After all the experiences you went through from school, the organization that you volunteer at, you start to realize there are some mentor figures who will be able to help your professional growth. Sometimes, it is more than what your knowledge and strength lie, but who YOU know.
Especially when finding no-experience internships or entry-level jobs, networking is crucial. A large network increases your chances of knowing someone who can help you in finding that dream internship role.
How do I even build that network?
Even your colleagues from out of school activities can make good network.
The first way is to find through your previous experiences, even at your part-time jobs, or out of school commitments. Joining your school’s alumni club is a good start since there are already willing seniors who are keen to help a fellow student to get that internship.
The second way is through LinkedIn or other online communities. Search for free marketing webinars to attend on LinkedIn and be visible in the discussion through comments and posts.
Be active in connecting with the relevant individuals at the event and follow up closely with questions. Be sincere and reach out to individuals that inspire or interest you. Write a personalized invitation and get connected. You never know what opportunities you may get.
I participated in a mentorship program with adplist for UX designers to explore.
Personally, I found my school’s alumni network (SMU Alumni Association) and other sites like adplist.org and Product Marketing Alliance Slack Community helpful.
This guide on growing your LinkedIn network helped me a great deal too. Do find your school’s alumni network to start!
Step 3: Build your online personal brand
Your LinkedIn profile is the ‘first impression’ others will have of you. Add your experience from Step 1’s volunteer work, extracurricular activity, and more.
It’s more valuable than you think! The key is to leverage the right keywords in your LinkedIn profile to portray your previous experiences to the internship opportunity you are seeking.
Same as marketing a product, market YOURSELF. Position your profile strategically. Ensure the internet ‘YOU’ is the same across your LinkedIn, your resumé, your cover letter, and your website or portfolio (if any). If you need help with your LinkedIn profile, you can always hire a LinkedIn profile writer to help you out.
Ensure consistency in the type of content shared or engaged in. Your profile need not be 100% about marketing or perfect for the role. Just be you!
Ask your mentors for feedback and showcase those strengths highlighted in your profile.
Emphasize your key strengths. If you realize you have great skills in stakeholder management, put that in!
If you are unsure about your strength, remember the network of mentors you built? Ask them for feedback and showcase those strengths highlighted. This way, your prospective employers can see and know how you are better than the competition.
Step 4: Do the homework to know the job
In everything you set out to do, research is required. After figuring out your interests and strengths (from Step 1), start searching relevant marketing internship listings online and note down the job requirements. Some examples of common requirements are:
stakeholder management
understanding of social platforms Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads
good writing and communication skills
strong illustration/design skills*
*Design skills are not crucial, however, it does give you the added advantage in securing that marketing internship.
Start searching through LinkedIn under ‘Jobs’. Set the location and experience level.
Step 5: Identify the skill set required, then hone and master it.
After noting down the requirements, prioritize which are the ones you intend to hone and master. For starters, basic understanding of digital marketing lingos and basic knowledge of design tools (like Canva, or Photoshop) is a plus. For digital marketing foundation, you can get started with Google Digital Garage free courses or Facebook Blueprint and get certified (remember to add them into your LinkedIn profile).
Google Digital Garage provides great foundational knowledge. View more of such free resources here.
If you want to apply for digital marketing role but have no experience, you can start off by going through Google Digital Garage free courses and participate in Google Nonprofit Marketing Immersion* to apply what you have learnt.
*Google Nonprofit Marketing Immersion is an online challenge free for all students. It will pair you up with a non-profit organization anywhere in the world and you run the ads for them. Requires sign-up via your school email.
Step 6: Write effective resume and cover letters
When crafting and writing your CV and cover letters, make it clear how the department can benefit from you joining the team. Match your skill set (as discovered in Step 3 and 5) with the job requirements (found in step 4).
1) How to write a marketing internship resume with no relevant experience?
When writing your internship resume, edit and use as many similar keywords from the marketing internship listings you saw.
After viewing 20 listings, you will start to notice some repeated words across all the listings. The words that show the hiring manager that you are a good fit for the job, are the very keywords you are looking for.
Ensure there is almost an 80% match in your resume and the job description. Tell them why you are the best candidate, and how you intend to improve an aspect of their work (based on the job description). Ensure your resume does not exceed two pages.
2) How to write a cover letter for a marketing internship with no relevant experience?
When crafting your cover letter, don’t let it be exactly the same as your resume. Instead, still match your job description but pay close attention to the keywords or lingo that the company uses to show that you understand their culture.
Head over to the company ‘About Us’ page and further understand what exactly they stand for. Weave in your own experiences to make it more personal. Be concise and ensure you end it off with the outcome and feedback received. Here are some cover letter examples for reference.
Remember to proofread. Read every email, every resume entry, every cover letter you send out. Get a family member or even a friend to read and check, to ensure the documents are good to send!
3) Not all the skills I have been expected for the role. Do I still add them?
Sometimes, not all the skills that you prepared for (in step 5) are used or asked for, and that’s alright. It is still good to include those skills so you are viewed as more valuable and competitive to the hiring team.
Additional: If you are applying for a content creation role, include a 2-3 pager* behind your resume to showcase your work. If it’s writing, show 2-3 good pieces that showcase your different style of writing. If it’s design/video, keep a portfolio of 5-6 good creative works (videos or static images for social media) to share. This will give you that great advantage when up for consideration!
*2-3 pagers should still be included on top of your website or online portfolio link as most of the time, recruiters will not click in to check and view all your works.
Step 7: Apply for marketing internships through job portals and your network
After penning everything down, you must be eager to apply through the job portal. Start applying early, either in your first year of university or even before that.
Applying through the job portal is one way. However, another valuable method is through the network you built (from step 2).
Most of the time, it is faster and simpler if you reach out to your network and ask for the experience (even if there’s no listing)! Chances are, there might be a team or two, who have yet to put up a public listing, but are indeed considering hiring an intern during that period. Applying through your network is more common than you think.
Step 8: Excel in the interview
Interviews are always rather nerve-wracking, no matter who you are. The mantra that I always espouse is “Confidence is half the battle won”. After all, if you do not believe in yourself, who will?
Prepare thoroughly but refrain from over-rehearsing to avoid sounding mechanical.
1) Pre-interview preparations
Research on the background of (i) the company, (ii) the team and the (iii) interviewer. Especially for marketing, it’s much easier to find information on their offering or previous campaigns they have run on social media, websites or even in press releases. Try to draw a connection on how you can relate to it on a consumer level.
Arrive for your interview 10-15 minutes early. Dress business professional (yes, even if it’s a video call for a remote role). Hype yourself up before the interview, they want to hear the palpable passion in your voice, not someone reciting from a script in their head.
Additional: If it is a face-to-face interview, include your portfolio and copies of your cover letter and resume. If it is a video call interview, prepare your portfolio on standby (in PowerPoint form) if you want to showcase relevant work you have previously worked on.
2) During the interview
Make use of the interview’s last section where they end with, “Do you have any questions for us?” by asking questions.
This proactiveness in asking your interviewers questions to understand the role signals to the interviewer that you have actually thought about the projects on a deeper level. Here are three tips:
Show your enthusiasm for the opportunity
Ask questions about the internship’s scope
Prepare 2-3 questions on why they chose to carry out the campaign in a certain way over the other. Ensure the questions are well-thought-through and not easily found on the internet.
Even in video interviews, remember to show your enthusiasm and be yourself!
Step 9: Follow-up closely and be open for future and other opportunities
Even if the interview is over, the hiring process is not. Speed is important, and ensure you send a “thank you” email to your interviewers on the day of the interview (before the end of their work day).
Add them on LinkedIn and thank them through the personalised note. These interviewers are now a connection in your network, even if you get the role or not.
1) How do I follow-up if they haven’t gotten back to me?
If after the said deadline, you receive no notification, do proactively reach out to ask for a reply. Ask if there is anything on your end you can provide. Many times, interviewers are very very VERY busy.
Showing appreciation for their time and effort in speaking with you makes a difference. Sometimes, you may not get the role, and that is okay. Ask if they can still consider you for other relevant opportunities within the team and be open to other roles.
2) What if I do not get the marketing internship?
Although it is important to have a clear direction of where you are heading, it would be beneficial to not pigeonhole yourself either. Learn to explore the many different facets of your interests.
For example, if you like marketing, do not only limit yourself to working in a particular marketing department. Consider an internship at an advertising agency or be in an editorial role at a publishing house.
These varied experiences will serve amazing in giving you a more holistic view of the industry. It is the combination of these different experiences and expertise gained that differentiates you - no one wants a one-trick pony.
So, will this guarantee me a marketing internship even if I have no experience?
Searching for a marketing internship with no relevant experience is not easy, but it is possible. Throughout this whole process, the most important thing to have is a realistic approach.
Being realistic allows you to shorten the wasted time as you have already streamlined your search process to what you want to do, and what you can do. Remember not to discriminate between large and small firms when applying as both can help you learn things that you definitely won’t be able to learn in classrooms.
With the nine steps, breaking into marketing is very possible and can be achieved by anyone. You have to learn about yourself, build your own network that will support you, showcase your own strengths, and do your homework. Here’s wishing you all the best!
If you’d like to learn more about marketing, check out the other articles in this marketing magazine! They post great articles on their blog.
