Marketing Intern Review

I would support all aspects of marketing at Cisco. The workload came from the variety of tasks we were doing - from meetings and calls to clients, to in person interviews, to social media and training. Every day was quite full on in this respect, but the intensiveness of the individual activities was ok. There were opportunities to take breaks at regular intervals, and some flexible working arrangements. This helped to ease the burden of the workload.

The internship helped me immensely with applying the concepts in my university course. It has also confirmed my decision to pursue a career in marketing, and more importantly I have taken up my offer of a full time job upon graduation. Should I want to leave marketing, then I have built up a lot of transferable skills. I also have learnt some skills in UX/UI design that will prove valuable for the future when things become more digital.

A lot of responsibility given that I was 'only' an intern - at times I had control of the company's Twitter and Facebook accounts, and I was asked to contribute to many of the ideas gathered for social media. There was also a high degree of client interaction through meetings and interviews. At all times, I was encouraged to ask my line manager for help, and fellow interns wee also on hand to support each other.

Lots of supervision - the marketing team is a bit more relaxed than the other teams within Cisco and as such there was more guidance and support from managers and supervisors. Training mainly revolved around giving us the 'soft skills' necessary to create an impact with clients and Excel training. As I do not have a financial background, I was also given useful training on financial terminology. This proved useful from a commercial awareness point of view.

Great atmosphere, owing to the high number of interns working. We also interacted a lot with the younger full time workers. As mentioned, older workers had other commitments a lot of the time, but this did not prevent them from participating in making us feel welcome around the office and part of the Cisco culture. There were also a lot of social events which enabled us to get to know other employees outside of work.

I really enjoyed it - there was a good vibe throughout with plenty of opportunities for self advancement. There was no sense of competition between interns, and we all enjoyed the challenge. It was also long enough - 8 weeks - to make one's mind up about whether they saw themselves there full time. Moreover, I was exposed to all areas of the business, so there was plenty of time to interact with other people including senior managers.

Yes

Have a think about what division you might want to enter. Cisco are not just about technology but also has other departments such as HR, Marketing etc. This means that graduates from a variety of disciplines are able to get into the company and have a positive impact on the business. Try and emphasize how Cisco differentiates itself from other competitors to show that you understand how the business works. This will help you to stand out.