Behind the scenes with EF Academy’s marketing team

Over the summer holiday, Jana Michalke, a German IB student at EF Academy Oxford, had the opportunity to do an internshp at the EF headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland. She saw EF Academy from a completely different angle as she worked with the Digital Marketing Manager, Print Publications Manager, Copywriter and designers of EF Academy’s own marketing team. Read on to find out what she thought of this unique experience:

In my opinion, internships are a great opportunity, as students get the chance to see what there is after their years in school and university. This is especially helpful as most university courses will not prepare you for what reality really looks like. Students who get to do internships are able to experience different aspects of work life and can decide if it is – or isn’t – what they want to do later in life. Finding what you really want to do is very difficult for many students, and that’s why you should experience as much as you possibly can to make sure you know what you want to do later. I personally believe that not only good work experiences are helpful – the bad ones are even better, as you certainly know that what you did there is something you never want to do again. Gaining real-life work experience is better than any article or blog entry you will ever read.

I decided to apply for the EF internship because I was curious to look into the work EF is doing behind the scenes and wanted to experience an international work climate. The Lucerne office interested me the most as the main marketing team is situated there and most company decisions are made in this office. Switzerland is also a country I had never been to before. I got to choose from several different teams and I ended up choosing marketing because I am interested in studying something along these lines and I wanted to know if marketing is really something for me.

I was given the great opportunity of discovering all aspects of the marketing work done for the EF Academy. It was fascinating to peek behind the curtains and see what is really done and how much work is invested in getting us students to come to EF Academy. I learned a lot about different marketing products and when they are used. I noticed that networking and teamwork are very important in an office setting as you have to rely on people in many different places, so a quick Skype call to the U.S. or Hong Kong was a daily routine. It was the first time that I experienced an office job and I have to say that it surpassed my expectations. The people I met were to my surprise from all over the world and very supportive and inclusive. I got help whenever I needed it and I learned a lot, especially in my first two weeks when everything was new to me. I had a lot of responsibility for an intern and I didn’t have only repetitive tasks, some of my responsibilities were real challenges, such as restructuring the internal marketing website to make it easier to find marketing material.

All in all, I can recommend an internship like this to everyone who is applying to university or a job soon. It helps a great deal to reassure yourself that what you want to do is right for you and so you don’t have the wrong expectations. I want to thank the wonderful marketing team in Lucerne for making this internship so enjoyable.