It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air! What love, you ask? Love for the Communication Studies major from senior Taylor Morton! Taylor is sharing her internship experience with us, and, through her internship, gave some special love to USF and our major! Read on to find out how…
COMS major (and Giants fan!) Taylor Morton
Q: Where did you intern and why?
Taylor: “My internship last semester was with Cumulus Media, which is the second largest owner of AM and FM radio stations, with presence in sixty-eight cities throughout the United States. My immediate internship was within the Marketing and Promotions Department for five radio stations here in San Francisco. My department was just one of many that supports the success of the radio; examples of other departments are Sales, Accounting, HR, and Production.”
Q: How did you find this internship?
Taylor: “I surprisingly found my internship on craigslist over summer leading up to this semester, however I waited until I returned to San Francisco to apply. The internship was also sent out by Professor Doohan as a suggestion to apply to. This internet search along with the options sent out by Professor Doohan were extremely helpful because the options I was presented with were in fields that I had not considered working in. I had always considered television however never radio, so in this situation craigslist and other intern matching sites were very helpful.”
Q: Why did you decide to intern there?
Taylor: “I decided to intern there because it was a different environment than I had considered in the past and I felt that this internship would give me the opportunity to continue developing skills I learned from other organizations I have been apart of, as well as develop new ones. I enjoy hands on work that goes beyond average office tasks so this internship provided a strong balance between the two.”
Q: What did you do on a regular basis at your internship?
Taylor: “As I mentioned, at Cumulus I was involved in both office work and outside sponsored events. I interned in the office 1-2 days per week in addition to working events throughout the week and on weekends. Since I interned for five radio stations there was always different events to participate in, whether it is a sponsored golf tournament, presidential viewing party, or working Giant’s baseball games. At these events I work the promotions booth speaking to customers, answering questions, and promoting our giveaways. In the office, my tasks ranged from answering phones and returning messages, to loading up the radio station cars for events, to mailing out prizes to winners. I also updated and wrote reports and recap forms in order to keep files organized and compile advertisements and topical information discussed on the radio to give to management and our station sponsors.”
Q: What did you learn from this internship?
Taylor: “From my internship I have learned a lot about the importance of multitasking. In my situation, as I work for five different stations, I have four different bosses to report to so it is very important that I am able to balance the tasks I am assigned to complete. Along with this comes the value of organization which is something that everyone knows holds importance, however under five stations there is a lot of information about the target audiences, events they promote, and items they advertise so keeping a collected knowledge of all of these is something I was able to learn how to manage. Through this internship along with the internship course I also learned about the power of networking. This was something I struggled with prior to gaining this internship because I never felt that I had strong connections but I was able to meet new people and develop valuable relationships.”
Q: What advice do you have for other students looking for an internship?
Taylor: “My biggest piece of advice is do not limit yourselves. When I was applying for internship I applied to magazine companies, non-profits, start-ups, and interning for the radio is where I landed. I also learned that internships really are as important as people say there are so it does not hurt to have a few and start searching early on. Another piece of advice is to make sure that where you intern is somewhere that will help you grow but will also allow you to have fun.”
Thanks for the advice, Taylor! And now, without further ado, here is an audio clip of Taylor talking on the radio about a promotion. Listen carefully as she shows the love to USF and her Communication Studies major! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Bravo, Taylor, Bravo!
