Go to Marketing they said. It would be fun, they said. But no one prepared me for how different the Marketing team would be from my old team or what a drastic culture change I would have to adjust to. Here are a few things I wish I knew about Marketing before signing up to be an intern.

1. People treat me differently now– This is something I cannot get over. There are some people who treat me the same and they are few and far between (they are also my favorite people). However there are two types of people who treat me differently- those who are nicer to me which automatically puts me on edge. I worked in the same department for three years. If the way you are approaching me has changed, I do not know how to respond to that. The other group of people are those who do not speak to me at all. It’s like I have personally offended them with my decision to pursue a Marketing career. Considering the fact that I worked and studied for three years, trying to get into Marketing, this behavior personally offends me. But speaking of studying…

2. The importance of always being open to learning– One of the things I was really excited to give up (along with working weekends) was studying. Or so I thought. Moving to Marketing was exciting but the Marketing industry is always changing. If you want to be great at your job, you need to keep an eye on changing consumer trends. You need to follow experts in your field no matter what type of marketing you fall into.

3. It’s tough. The work is difficult– Another thing that surprised me about working in Marketing was that at the beginning, there was ALOT of tough days. There were days that I would come home and cry because I had no idea what was going on. To be fair, alot of this stemmed from the fact that the person I was supposed to intern under had gotten another job and left the company but it was difficult to go from knowing so much in my previous job to knowing so little when I started my internship. We all have to start somewhere and honestly those tough days were what made me better at my job.

4. Sometimes people don’t want you to succeed. At all– In my first week as an intern, our department was invited to an office event. Only a few people from back office was invited and a few people from my previous job. The brand managers and head of department insisted me and the other intern join even though it was our first week and we were uncomfortable about attending (atleast I was but I decided to rip off the band-aid). It was awful. Naturally I gravitated towards my old team and that’s where the issue started. Apparently those who had been one of the chosen few from my old team from the event were not happy to see me. I kid you not. I heard my name, turned around and then the staff hurriedly walked away whispering about me being there. I left the event in tears. I refused to go back the next time until finally one of the Marketing managers pried the story out of me. She dragged me to the event the time after that (and the time after that) until I had finally gotten used to it. I never went back to my old team after that. It broke my heart but it was better for my sanity.

5. There’s after hours work– In Marketing your tasks are duties are in a specific sub-field. For example, mine was paid media. So if my work was not completed in time, it fell to me to ensure that I completed it even if it was after hours. This took alot of getting used to since in my last job we were paid overtime for working extra hours but eventually I got better at my job and the after-hour work stopped.

I definitely wish I had known these things before taking the job. It would not have changed anything since I have wanted to work in Marketing for so long however I would have liked to have been more prepared. Growth is painful but so worth it in the end

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