If you are familiar with the American restaurant chain Five Guys, my internship at the company was as fun as you’re probably imagining it. I was able to get an internship in the Marketing department at the Five Guys International headquarters in Amsterdam, and I can easily say that it was the best possible experience I could get as an intern, despite my time at the company being cut short due to COVID-19.
The environment at the office was friendly, casual and supportive since the very beginning. Everyone was very welcoming and they made it very easy to quickly socialize and form friendship bonds. The atmosphere was family-like, and it was reinforced by events such as Friday office drinks, monthly pizza lunches and, last but not least, bring-your-puppy-to-work days every week.
My experience working in the Marketing team was inclusive and dynamic. My colleagues made sure to include me in all creative projects, even ones I was not directly involved with (such as getting my feedback on merch ideas). As part of giving me an inclusive experience, my presence was always requested at any meetings: board meetings, weekly coffee-talks with my team to get on the same page and meetings with external stakeholders such as partner PR agencies, which sometimes would happen in their offices in Amsterdam. Attending meetings was one of my favorite aspects of the internship, because it allowed to meet and learn from many communication professionals and experienced employees.
During the internship, I got the opportunity to work on different creative tasks and to be in charge of some projects. For instance, I helped managing the company’s social media by reviewing and editing posts drafted by partner communication agencies. This part of the job was my favorite as it allowed me to explore my creativity when I would sit down with my boss to look over and edit the drafted posts. In addition, the marketing team was often involved in creating campaigns, and my favorite campaigning project was working with a videographer to create visual billboards for a Five Guys store opening in Hong Kong. Also, a slightly less fun but empowering part of the job was being in charge of managing the company’s website and monitoring their presence on online platforms such as Yelp, which gave me the opportunity to collect customer data and report it.
This internship taught me valuable technical skills such as presenting information effectively to a team, creating reports and many more. However, the most valuable lesson this experience taught me is that it is important to take advantage of an internship to build a network of connections with people that you will be able to rely on and hopefully to professionally cross paths with again in the future. Then, if you are as lucky as me, those connections can become lasting friendships.
In conclusion, working for Five Guys allowed me to meet inspirational people with an admirable work ethic, and it made me understand what working for a large company looks like. Working as an intern in the Marketing department at Five Guys was a creative and intense experience with no dull moments that I would recommend to anyone looking for an internship.
To end this post, I will include a picture of the time my boss took me to the closest Five Guys restaurant (in Utrecht) to make me try the food for my first time (it was great).
