By Samuel Nichols

This summer, I interned at Next Level Marketing, an award-winning digital marketing firm in Florida. My title: SEO, Social Media, and Content Strategy Intern. It seems like a long title, but those are just a few of the fields I was engaged in. I also wrote blog posts and performed administrative jobs for the company.

I had a fantastic experience and learned an incredible amount. For example: if you want to market in the digital realm, you need to employ a multi-pronged approach. The scope of all of the necessary facets of search engine optimization totally overwhelmed me at first. Slowly, I began picking up as much as I could. There will always be a significant amount to learn, but I got my sea legs.

I found Next Level Marketing through the Business Career Link, offered by FIU College of Business’ Career Management Services office. The Career Link is a wonderful tool. Once you have your resume approved, you can apply for a wide variety of jobs, both in Florida and throughout the United States. Setting up a profile helps employers know more about you, and the easily navigable user interface aids you in knowing more about a potential employer. There are jobs in finance, marketing, sales, and many, many more sectors. Career Link is one of the best ways of getting an internship.

In my International MBA, I was given many tools to help me succeed in this internship. The marketing class with John Tsalikis came into play incredibly often, but I have utilized information from almost all of my classes.

The Chapman Graduate School gives you many opportunities to network, which I have greatly appreciated. One of my peers, Maria Toscano, was on the hunt for an internship as well. I reached out to her and informed her of an opening here at Next Level. She went through the interview process, and impressed everyone. Maria became one of my peers. Career Management Services always told us that your network is your net worth, and it is always nice to give a leg up to a friend.

I would highly recommend internships to anyone. Classes can give you a good theoretical framework for what you will encounter in the business world, but you are looking at the world from 50,000 feet up. When you do an internship, you apply the knowledge you gained at FIU. The immense satisfaction you feel when you use a skill you gained in the classroom is unlike any other in the business world.

The biggest positive about internships is that you get your foot in the door for a job. Employers crave experienced workers, and internships give real-world practical skills. Having an awesome internship really jumps out on your CV. Plus, if you really do well, your employer knows they can rely on you and might even offer you a contract at the end of the summer. I was fortunate to have that experience. At the end of my internship, I was offered a position at Next Level Marketing as an SEO/SEM Specialist, and I started on August 4th, 2017.

Samuel Nichols (MBA ’17) graduated from International MBA in August.