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After working odd jobs summer after summer, I never thought the day would come when I would wake up at sunrise and look forward to the nine hour workday ahead. My name is Claire Kirk, and I am an intern at BirdDogHR. I work as the content writer on the marketing team. Has a nice ring to it, right?

Last October I received the call all Greenlee students hope for: I was offered an internship. Throughout the fall and spring semester, I interned part time in Des Moines while I was still a full-time student back in Ames. This left me just enough time to hold leadership positions at student organizations and complete my homework. Unfortunately, sleep wasn’t always an option, but thankfully I have a love for coffee. Nearing what I thought would be the end of my internship, my boss called me into her office and asked me to stay on full-time through the summer.

Now, as I start my third week as a summer intern at BirdDogHR, I have been given more responsibilities and opportunities than I could hope for. I look forward to Mondays, which is how I know that I have “made it.” My internship allows me to write everything from whitepapers and press releases to infographic content and social media posts. I was also able to show off my amateur videography and video editing skills, while shooting a company video that would be presented at the Technology Association of Iowa Awards. I am learning so much and being introduced to new skills every day.

At our weekly marketing meetings my boss, Ann Tory, encourages me to pitch new ideas and ask questions that will advance my knowledge about the company and the industry. A recent pitch I made was about becoming a contributor to various HR publications like Workforce, HR Executive, and Entrepreneur. Becoming a contributor means that BirdDogHR would write articles about our industry expertise in HR and talent management software. Other pitches I made were about increasing blog postings and social media to drive customers to the website and engage with our systems.

We have increased our blog postings from once a month to once a week and upped our social media from one post a week to three posts a week on all platforms. All of which I am in charge of writing.

In the early stages of summer I already feel like a valued asset of the BirdDogHR team. I look forward to the experiences I will gain and relationships I will build as time continues. Monday mornings have nothing on me because I get to wake up and do what I love every day.