Studying Digital Media and Marketing at Maranatha College, Tim Halloran looked for an overseas internship in event management to add some spice to his resume and satisfy his love for traveling: “I’ve always wanted to travel to Asia and when I heard of this internship in India with Leave UR Mark, I was very interested. The internship they offered would really distinguish me when I enter the job market and the more I read about it, the more I saw how much of an opportunity it was.”
Sitting down behind his desk to start his early workday, Tim is offered a cup of coffee and starts up his laptop. Working for an event management company, his role in the company is an important one: “While this is a very reputable company with many events going on, they don’t have a lot of followers online, and that’s where I come in: my main responsibility is to update their social media profile and revive their web presence. Right now, I keep seven Twitter accounts and three Facebook accounts, which I’ve all put into one platform to synchronize the information outflow. I’ve been working on that a lot, and the result shows: since I arrived, this company’s web presence has increased, for example, through a thousand more followers on Facebook.” As some of his co-workers arrive, Tim explains that he really wants to make his time in India meaningful, which has been an important challenge for him: “While I do a lot of work for this company – with results – I want to make sure the impact is lasting. I really want my ideas for the website and the tools that I have created for them to help them on the long term, so that the mark I’m leaving truly lasts.”
Besides supervising the company’s social media output, Tim also works on several other projects: “My supervisor regularly talks with me on what I could help the company with. Recently, for example, I’ve been working on updating their website for them. The company’s site has got some great information, but a very old layout. My job has been to give it a modern look and work closely with the graphic designer to come up with concepts that would help make this company the best in its branch, at least as far as their website goes.” When he first arrived, however, Tim wasn’t expecting to do this kind of work: “Updating the website is a project my supervisor really wanted done and she gave me a lot of responsibility by giving me such a big voice in the process. In all honesty it scared me a bit at first, but it also made me want to prove her right in her estimation of me: even though the website wasn’t part of what I had been planning to do, I did want to make it work for the company.”
To help him with the project, Tim has been working closely with the company’s graphic designer, who has been a great help: “Whenever I’ve got an idea for the site, I will shoot him a concept and, sitting at a desk right next to me, he will tell me immediately whether it’ll work or not. He’s very realistic and hands-on and it really makes my work a lot easier and enjoyable.”In a way, Tim has found, the friendliness he has found in his co-workers also counts for Indian people in general: “There are some exceptions where auto-rickshaw drivers are concerned, of course, but overall, the people from Bangalore are very nice to foreigners: they treat you like family, regardless of where you’re from.” Tim also got the opportunity to travel to Goa with the company on a 2 day corporate event for information technology officers from all over India. It was an opportunity to see the growing IT sector of India as well as network.
As he sends out a synchronized update through his various Twitter accounts, Tim leans back and looks out over the work floor: “I’ve learned so much about marketing here, if only by working in an actual office, which I’d never done before. I’m also quite amazed also at how much work Leave UR Mark has done for us logistically, letting interns really focus on their internships, without worries about food and housing. I know that through my work here with them, I’ve gained some knowledge that I would have never gotten through an internship in the Midwest. I’m really glad I took the opportunity.”
Email info@leaveurmark.com to apply for this opportunity.
