The first time Vedika heard of Brunswick Group, she was reading a job description for their summer internship program on WayUp. Minutes later, she was already sure she had found a match. How did she know?
“I actually enjoyed the application process itself,” Vedika—an intern-turned-full-time analyst at the strategic communications and public relations firm—explains. “The questions they asked me weren’t just limited to ‘What are you hoping to get out of this?’ They asked me to take a writing test, write a news analysis piece, and write a press release. And that was all before they even gave me an interview.”
While some people might be discouraged by the company’s thorough vetting process, Vedika found the challenge “fascinating.”
That was just the beginning of her story. As a member of the Brunswick Group team, she’s worked with clients across industries, published her written work in the firm’s respected communications journal, and picked up more skills than she ever imagined she would. After all that, she decided to go full-time.
To find out more about the company’s elite internship program—and how it launched her career as a communications professional—we sat down with Vedika.
Training For—And Actually Doing—High-Stakes Work
One of Vedika’s favorite features of the program was its combination of structure and responsibility.
“The internship program is so well structured,” she tells us. “You do two weeks of internship training, learning a lot, observing a lot. And then you’re placed into teams where you’re applying everything.”
And applying her training meant doing more than just writing press releases or planning events. They were handling big-picture strategy for clients across industries and with a variety of goals. But that’s just how Brunswick Group works, Vedika says.
“For me it’s more fun to completely change a company’s image than it is to help them release just one new product. I wanted to work for a company that was more strategic,” she explains. “But Brunswick does it all, so even as an intern, I didn’t have to choose.”
But it wasn’t just the program that allowed Vedika to take on challenging tasks, it was her desire for a greater challenge.
“No matter what, you’re not doing small things,” she says. “And if you take initiative, you’re doing big things.”
Publishing In An Acclaimed Journal Of Communications—While She Was Still An Intern
And Vedika was right about initiative, too. After expressing interest, she was able to contribute to the Brunswick Review, the company’s well-regarded industry journal covering different angles of business, communications, and policy.
“I like to write, and I really expressed interest, so I was allowed to do smaller things for them at first,” Vedika says. “I would proof copy, compile research, and help with article pitches.”
After a while Vedika realized that she had everything she needed for an article in the Brunswick Review, so she pitched it to one of her superiors—and they said to give it a shot.
The piece she ended up writing was a look at the “charms and eccentricities” of the Indian consumer market through the lens of an interview with her own father. Not only was it an excellent addition to her professional portfolio, but also she was able to genuinely add value to a leading industry journal.
Making A Smooth Transition From Intern To Full-Time
So, with all that under her belt as an intern, you might be wondering what her transition to full-time employee has been like.
The simple answer: It’s mostly the same, but the stakes are even higher.
“I get to do a little more analytical work, and create things more,” Vedika says. “As an intern, I was doing the research behind the end document, now I do everything. I’m responsible for all stages of the deliverable. I get to make real recommendations to important clients.”
And that kind of responsibility suits her just fine.
Want to write your own story (literally) at a company that challenges their interns? Search for open opportunities from Brunswick Group on WayUp!
