What is it like to be an intern at Relevance Advisors? I’m glad you asked! My name is Michaela, and I am finishing up my role as the summer 2020 intern for Relevance Advisors. Over the past ten weeks, I’ve earned Google Ad Certifications, learned how to set up and manage Google Ads campaigns, written blog posts, attended webinars, observed client meetings, and much more, all while working remotely.
When I applied and interviewed for the internship, I thought I would be spending my summer in Atlanta working in the office with the team at Relevance Advisors. I was excitedly apartment searching and preparing to move to the city. However, when Coronavirus hit and didn’t let up before the summer, I feared for the future of the internship. Would I be moving down to Atlanta for the summer? Would I still be able to do the internship at all?
As June rolled around, Coronavirus was still widespread. The solution? I became Relevance Advisor’s first remote intern. Although working from my childhood room at home in Indianapolis wasn’t quite what I had imagined, I still learned a ton about digital marketing and found a bright side within the change. Read on and watch the video below to learn more about the internship program at Relevance Advisors during the age of COVID-19.
A Typical Day as a Remote Intern
A typical day interning remotely usually looks a little something like this. I start work between 8:00 am and 9:00 am each morning. I begin by answering a question on a site called Basecamp about what I plan on working on that day. At 9:00 am, I join the Daily Scrum meeting, where the team touches base about what we’re going to work on and ask any questions we may have about the day ahead. This meeting is great because it allows me to begin each day knowing what I need to work on.
The rest of the work for the day differs based on the day and the current projects. At the beginning of the internship, I typically had one or two training meetings with team members each day where they ran through each of the client accounts, taught me how to access important programs, and taught me a variety of skills. I never felt confused on how to complete a task.
From the very first day, I was able to work on real client work, such as blog posts and push notification scheduling. When I wasn’t working on assigned tasks, I worked towards completing my Google Ads Certifications. It was great working on these certifications alongside the assigned tasks because I felt that I was getting to practice what I was learning while I was learning it.
As the internship went on, I had weekly tasks that I typically worked on for certain days. For example, each Monday I would complete search term reports. On Tuesdays, I would write and schedule blog posts for the following week. However, I also enjoyed variety in what I was able to work on each week. If I saw that there was a client call or a task that I wanted to learn about, I was encouraged to ask to join. No day looked exactly the same, and the internship was tailored to what I was interested in.
The Work
As I mentioned before, I’ve had the opportunity to learn and work on a wide variety of projects. During the first three weeks, I worked a lot on my Google Ads Certifications. While I was working on these, I also began working on blog posts for clients, sat in on client meetings, created search term reports, and more.
As the internship went on, I was able to help set up a new campaign in Google Ads based on insights from research that I conducted. I was also able to use this research to brainstorm and propose new blog content based on the success of previous posts and pages. I also was shown how to create ads on Amazon and social media, how to optimize Google Ads campaigns, how to use platforms like Klaviyo and Hubspot, and more.
One thing that interns get to be a part of are quarterly offsite meetings. This meeting is a time where the team gets together to review the previous quarter and create goals for the following quarter. The meeting covers the business side of Relevance Advisors, which is a fantastic opportunity for interns to be a part of.
Every intern also has the opportunity to create their own SEO Audit for a non-profit organization of their choice. I enjoyed being able to reach out and help a great organization in my community while getting hands on experience with search engine optimization. During this project, I learned how to use programs such as Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, and Google Analytics. I also learned how to create title tags, meta descriptions, alt text, and more. It was very rewarding to be able to use what I had learned all summer to help a wonderful non-profit.
The Culture
Dream big, follow through, be nice, love what you do, and pay it forward. These are the core values at Relevance Advisors, and they are lived out each and every day.
From just my first interview with Relevance Advisors, I could tell that everyone was focused on doing great work with integrity, and that they were focused on the success of their clients. Over the course of my internship, I’ve continued to see this lived out.
Everyone on the team at Relevance Advisors was welcoming to me from the very first day and were genuinely excited to help me learn and be successful as an intern. This internship isn’t one where you’ll just be getting coffee or taking meeting notes. Interns are given meaningful work to help them learn as much as possible during the course of the internship. The team at Relevance Advisors genuinely wants to see interns learn and be successful.
The Interview Process
Before I was offered this internship position, I was very nervous about what to expect in the interview process. After applying to the internship program, I received an email with a few questions to answer. After submitting my answers, I was contacted to schedule a first round phone interview. This interview was upbeat and informational. I was able to ask a lot of questions about Relevance Advisors and the internship program.
I had two more rounds of interviews after this. The conversations I had during the interviews, as well as the information I learned about the work that interns were able to do, is what drew me to this position. Everyone I spoke to was very kind, and I could tell that they were genuinely committed to ensuring that interns learned as much as they possibly could about the topics of digital marketing that they were interested in. I was excited that there was the potential to work on real client work as an intern versus only observing the work.
How do you ace your interview? As cliche as it sounds, my best advice for the interview process is to be yourself. Everyone at Relevance Advisors is friendly, genuine, and easy to talk to. If you’re nervous (I was too!), try having a friend or family member help you do a practice interview. Practice running through explaining how your work, extracurricular, and previous internship experience makes you a good candidate for this position. I found that just running through some practice questions helped me feel more comfortable and confident going into the interview!
The Unexpected Benefits of Being an Remote Intern
Although I was excited to be living and working in Atlanta this summer, there were some unexpected benefits of a remote internship. First and foremost, working remotely gave me the freedom to work from anywhere. I quickly realized that this meant I could visit family from out-of-state that I wouldn’t normally be able to visit. When I visited, I would work my internship each day and be able to spend the afternoon and evening with family. This freedom to work from anywhere was a terrific benefit of the shift to the remote internship.
Another benefit was the money I was able to save while living at home. Although the suburbs of Indianapolis don’t come close to how cool it would’ve been to be in Atlanta, the remote internship allowed me to save money on rent, food, gas, and other expenses.
The internship at Relevance Advisors is a fantastic experience. Interns are able to get hands on experience with real client work while learning a ton about a variety of digital marketing topics. The team is supportive and wants to ensure that every intern is successful and has a great experience.
As my remote internship comes to an end, I can confidently say that I felt no disconnect because I was working remotely. There is quick communication among the team, and they were quick to hop on a video meeting for training or to answer questions. It was an incredible summer internship, and I would highly recommend you apply if you are at all interested! Check out the “Digital Marketing Internship” tab to learn more about the internship experience at Relevance Advisors.
