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The Internship Applicaggravation Process

The last 2 months have been a real eye opener for me. Hitherto to now, applying to part-time jobs online via email seemed to be an almost guaranteed way of getting myself an interview. In the past year, I had applied to two part-time jobs, accordingly landing myself two ultimately successful interviews. Back in March 2014, I had also applied to a Universal Music internship opportunity and secured myself an interview. Albeit it was an unsuccessful one at the time, but just getting an interview at such a well-reputed business was enough to fill me with an ignorant sense of confidence in applying for internships this semester. This ignorance would be something that undeniably hindered me in my search for an internship, primarily because I overestimated my ability to steadfastly secure a internship of high calibre. Very quickly though, this ignorance turned into epiphany, epiphany into cognitive dissonance, and ultimately, cognitive dissonance into motivated action. This blog will give insight into the many professional lessons I learnt through the hardship associated with the (very regularly aggravating) application process. At the commencement of the semester, I considered cover letters to be a formality that did not really have any impact on applicants success. Initially, I had received praise from certain human resources departments I deemed generic: "To whom it may concern, I am very interested in participating in Wolverine's intern program in the second half of this year. I have a strong background in music, and pursue a degree in such. I also have a knowledge in the foundations of business as a result of my studies in the USA. I have learned the practical application of business concepts in my co-curricular activity with AIESEC UTS as a Marketing Officer and Logistic Events Manager. I am a highly ambitious individual, and am eager to make an inroad in to pursuing my dream of working in the music industry with you guys at Wolverine.

I think I will make a great, albeit possibly temporary, addition to your team. I hope you guys agree.

Cheers, Ben"

To which I received the reply, "Hello Benjamin,

Thank you for your application for the Social Media Master position advertised. Firstly I would like to say that I loved the refreshing tone to your cover letter so thank you for that.

We are looking for 5 creative, passionate, music enthusiast interns who are excited about the idea of thinking outside of the box to cultivate fan engagement for many projects.

In order to find the right person, we would like to ask you to create a piece about something that is happening in the music industry right now that you think we would put onto one of our social media sites. It could be a review on a latest song, artist, venue or event. It could be a blog, a photo diary or a news piece. The options are endless. We just want to be able to see what type of work you would be able to produce if you worked with us.

We would also then like you to write just a short paragraph about your strategies in order to gain new followers via social media platforms (we currently utilise Facebook, Soundcloud, Twitter and YouTube). You can even use examples of your own pages that you may run yourselves.

With both of these tasks, please be creative and think outside of the box. Please email your pieces in by July 31st and no later than 5pm AEST.

I look forward to receiving your application.

Cheers,

(Employee)" Although this company seemed clearly interested in me, I was hesitant to apply as they did not carry a highly regarded name. Thus, the opportunity to submit the required materials passed, and I was internship-less. Confident I would find something better, I began applying to the top music management, licensing and publising firms with the presumed ability to easily secure interviews. However, as weeks passed, I realised that I was not receiving any responses from anyone. At first I just told myself to give it time, but as more time went past, a gradually increasing sense of anxiety started to become engendered in me. I started applying to more and more internship openings - the more anxious I was, the longer and less concise they became. I started rambling to prove myself, adding in so much information that any HR officer would look it and say, "ain't nobody got time for that". It was a self-perpetuating disaster. And something needed to change. After many weeks, change was needed to my strategy. I realised I needed to do two things: 1. Drop my standards, and take what I can get. If I say no before I have even done it, I have no choice in doing it or not later. Apply to everything that would interest me, regardless of the name. 2. Be more concise and insightful in my cover letters. Do not ramble, and be sure to convince them of why you are the best candidate for them. Tailor every letter to the company. Around the same time, I made the concious decision to pursue a post-graduate Advertising degree next year. Naturally, the amount of internship opportunities available doubled.

After these realisations, the interviews instantly came pouring in. I had three interviews in one week (including Brave advertising, Take Two advertising and King Sound Studios [one was cancelled due to a miscommunication on the company's part]). It probably could not have come at a better nor worse time, however. I say better because of the fact that I had literally just changed my strategy, and it was obviously reaping the rewards. But on the otherhand, I also had a week to go before I had to jump on a plane and go to the UK to visit family for two weeks. Any interview I had in this time therefore had a the paradoxical shadow of my priveleged trip to the UK cast over it. Every interview: "Oh awesome! You seem like you have your head screwed on. So would it be possible for you to start as soon as possible?" "If ASAP is in two and a half weeks, yeah sure!" "Um... We'll get back to you..."

As demoralising as this was, I was still determined to get an internship abroad. I sent numerous emails to record companies in London, notably a marriage bound relative of mine, Jiles Martin (son of famous producer George Martin), to no avail. Apparently, no one wants interns for 4 days! Still I made use of the time abroad, sending tailored cover letters to various advertising and music companies. Sometimes there was a serendipitous crossover of the two, like in the internship position posted by The Ministry of Sound. With my revised strategy in mind, I applied as follows: Hi Laura, I am writing to you today to register my interest in your marketing internship position; funnily enough from the birthplace of the Ministry of Sound, London. The other night, I had the pleasure of finally checking out the original Ministry of Sound club for myself. Needless to say, it was an awesome experience! I have attached a photo of myself standing all tourist-like out the front just for a bit of fun. In relation to why I want to take part in the Ministry of Sound internship program, I think it is the perfect intersection of my two passions: marketing and music. I am about to graduate my Bachelor of Sound and Music Design degree at The University of Technology, Sydney, where I have learnt not just about sound engineering and production, but also the implementation of creative and conceptual ideas. In this, I have also done co-curricular activity within the UTS division of the world’s largest student-run organisation, AIESEC, as a marketing officer. Here, I have implemented my creative mindset into a more practical, business-like environment with results that I am very proud of. After taking great interest and passion in such work, I have my eyes set on studying a post-graduate degree in advertising. This would build off the theoretical knowledge I have already gained from the two exchanges I have done in Texas, USA - the first specialising in advertising and then the second in an 8 week business boot camp that included marketing. I hope to get real world experience from an internship such as this one, whilst working in the industry that fascinates and interests me greatly. As I said, this internship is the intersection of my two passions, and, as a result, you can expect a driven, punctual and passionate work ethic from me. Attached is my resume for your reference. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience! Sincerely, Ben Baker

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Unfortunately, I have not yet received a prompt reply from the Ministry of Sound. Ultimately though, I did actually manage secure an internship! I am going to be a sound recordist and sound designer for a student short film! Although this was not through official processes and through a UTS Media Arts Production friend, I learnt that something like 70% of jobs are organised through an internal contact. I think that because I was so ambitious at the beginning of the semester, I failed to remember and respect the network of contacts I had already established for myself. Amongst other valuable lessons (such as saying yes to as much as possible and the art of the cover letter) this has been a categorically important one that this experience has provided for me.


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