It’s eight in the morning, the sun is shining and I’m on my way to the office to start the first day of my internship. Nerves, confusion and feelings on incompetence start to settle in as I walk, and I am wondering about how the next chapter in my student journey will pan out at TransPerfect.
Six months later, I successfully completed my internship and received a job offer to continue with the company as a Junior Creative Copywriter and Strategist. So, what is it like to be an intern at the world’s largest language and translation organisation, and how will it shape you into a growing marketing professional?
The host company…
TransPerfect is a multifaceted American translations company that current holds the title of the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions. It provides services to their clients in a variety of different industries and fields of expertise, including film and media localisation, gaming, law and healthcare and has offices in over 100 cities worldwide. My internship was part of the digital marketing team in the company’s Barcelona office, which is their largest hub worldwide, with over 900 employees working across the city.
Jumping into the deep end…
When I first joined the company, I was quite intimidated. I had very little experience working in marketing, I had just moved to Spain from the UK and I joined TransPerfect at a time when there were a lot of structural changes and new strategies being implemented due to various mergers and acquisitions. It seemed like quite an ambiguous and unsettling period for everybody, not just myself.
Thankfully, I was quickly able to land on feet through proactively taking notes about different processes in the company, getting to grips with the marketing language used and showering my colleagues with plenty of questions. I was also very fortunate to work closely with a girl who also started out in the company as a social media intern, so she was able to give me great advice on how to make the switch from being a student to being a professional in a corporate world; in this sense, I believe she served as a great mentor for me throughout my internship.
Painting a clearer picture through research…
Another thing that really helped me to settle into the company and make the most of the learning opportunities was conducting my own experimental research. Given the recent acquisitions by TransPerfect, a hot topic of discussion within my team was brand storytelling on social media. As a result, my study focused on the effects of different types of brand storytelling types on consumers’ brand attitude. Not only did it yield some interesting results that were of value to my colleagues, it also helped me to make sense of how to best navigate situations in which a brand identity has to change.
To sum up…
I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at TransPerfect and I believe I developed all the necessary skills and a strong network of contacts to continue growing as a marketer. I really recommend this internship for anyone who wants to work in a fast-paced, diverse and dynamic company and who wants to push themselves to explore new avenues and challenges within this space.