Your friends are judging you for freaking out so much about this interview. “They're just going to ask you how many followers you have, right? All you'll be doing is posting stuff on the Internet.”
You, the social media marketing maven, know better than that. Chances are, you’re the first-generation social media marketer in your family, and you may not have a lot of people to go to for advice.
I remember how that felt, fretting about how I would convince a business that was in the business of convincing people to pay me to — you guessed it — convince people. After many rejected applications and shaky phone calls, I landed a social media internship at Chatterkick. They liked me enough to hire me full-time (and write this blog post, too), so it's only my duty to advise Internet enthusiasts like you who are looking to join our digital world.
Know thy recruiter, and you will know thy next steps.
Know that they will find you.
Your potential supervisors are secretly stalking you. As much as you have been double-tapping their recent photos and favoriting every tweet they’ve made for the past week, they’re watching you, too. Make sure all of your digital platforms are not just polished, but pristine. If you're not sure about that tweet you uploaded a month ago, ask yourself if it would pass the Grandma Test. (If your grandma saw that – would she gasp for air?).
Stand out by: Being active on all your handles, and talking about things relevant to your industry. Don't just retweet, quote tweet. Don't just like, comment and add value to the discussion.
Know that they will test you.
Be prepared. Homework doesn’t stop in the classroom. This applies for full-time jobs as well. Employers want you to prove that you’re thinking on the right track as they are. It also helps them weed out candidates who have trouble with working on tight deadlines. Never fear. Go to Glassdoor or Comparably and see how employees have reviewed them. For example, this is what our employees are saying about Chatterkick.
Stand out by: Researching the company's past campaigns, current clients, and recent posts. Understand what makes their mission so important to them, and what they do why they do.
Know that they will read your blog, website/portfolio, and writing samples.
Have all of your materials crisp and clean. Double check for spelling errors. Don’t just slap a resume in a word processor - look up templates in Pinterest and Canva and design them. Even if it’s not fancy, get a business card. Start setting a schedule every day to write — even just for 20 minutes — to shoot out a blog every month. It'll help you in the recruitment process.
Stand out by: Putting a signature in your email that asks the correspondent to read your latest blog post, or replacing links in your profiles to your recent projects.
Know that they will see if you can learn quickly.
Finances are tough when you’re in college. Fortunately, there’s a lot of free or freemium software out there that you can learn at a low cost. Take, for example, the month-long trials of Adobe Creative Cloud and Sprout Social. It’s likely that your college or your library has a subscription to a learning service (like Linda), and LinkedIn offers skill-developing courses as well.
Stand out by: Using the free time you have in the job hunt to learn new programs and skills. See if you can figure out which ones that are trending in the industry and if you can get a head start on them. The more you learn independently, the less your employers will have to train you.
Know that they will play hard-to-get, or that they may not play at all.
When you've sent your application, @-mentioned the company on social, and still haven't gotten a response... don't take it personally. Sometimes recruiters are busy. Sometimes another person has more qualifications. And sometimes, there are no positions open. Keep following the company, subscribe to their blog, and keep looking for other opportunities.
Stand out by: Keeping in contact throughout the interview process. If you got the phone interview, email your interviewee after. If you got the in-person interview, write a handwritten thank-you note. If they send you an message letting you know that you aren't a right fit, thank them for their time and if they have any advice for improvement down the line. If they say there's nothing open, just keep swimming to other agencies — after all, there's plenty of fish in the sea.
Think you’re up for these challenges? We’re always looking for creative and curious interns, and you can apply right over here.
