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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.
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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.