Joe Sansone, a senior Business Management and Marketing double major from Monmouth County, shares his experience at his virtual internship with Clearbridge Branding Agency and how he manages his busy schedule.
Do you feel that Rowan provided you with the necessary skills and education to help secure your internship?
I feel like with business majors there is an emphasis on networking and marketing yourself and your resume and just putting yourself out there. We do a lot of group projects so I think that prepares you, too. Communicating with other people who are different from you and working together, I definitely felt prepared with my education.
How did you secure your internship?
I had a pretty tough time finding an internship, so I was applying to a bunch of different ones. Even though I’m not a Communications major, they have a match program for internships [through Profs Jobs], so I talked to someone in the Communications department and they set me up on this interview with [Clearbridge] and I ended up getting it.
What do you love the most about your internship?
I like how they are very flexible around my schedule. I think they’re very respectful to me in the way they communicate with me. My boss is very attentive, polite and respectful yet still laid back and casual at the same time.
How did you become interested in business?
Going into college I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I thought about doing social science, law and justice, or emergency preparedness but I kind of thought about what I was good at. I think for my life and in high school I loved being involved in the school through different clubs and I noticed I liked the leadership position in these clubs. I think Business Management is similar to that.
Is there anyone in your industry that you admire or inspire you?
A lot of my professors have been sources of inspiration for me. They have been industry professionals and bring a lot of experience and examples into the classroom. I think going into college everyone told me, “Oh, your professors are going to be so hard on you, you can’t do what you did in high school.” I think it’s the complete opposite. I think that there’s a level of respect that they have for us and we have for them. I’m motivated and excited to learn because of how nice they are and how informative they are to us.
What do you think is the most important to skill to have in your industry?
Willingness to learn. You can’t go into it thinking that you’re going to know everything, going into it open to challenge yourself and willing to be wrong and learning from that is really important.
How do you handle your time in and out of the classroom?
I just write things down and cross them off as I go. I have a really good memory too, I just know what I need to do in my head. It’s a lot of discipline between my time here. I think every year prepares you for the next. It’s being able to know that I don’t always need to hangout with my friends if I have something to get done but I also can let an assignment wait a little and go out and get my mind off things too. It’s just being responsible and having an end goal in sight.
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Story by:
Caitlyn Dickinson, senior public relations major
Photos by:
Joe Gentempo, senior art major