The Interview (Not the Seth Rogen and James Franco Movie)
I remember my first time as a online marketing intern at RadiusOnline like it was yesterday. I came in all set and ready for my interview, only to find out that I had come in a week earlier than scheduled. My clumsy brain had messed up… again. When I came in on the actual day, I got a look at the office and fell in love. With the exposed pipes on the ceiling and the open, door-free office space, I knew that Radius was different. At that time, I was undecided on my concentration because I had recently dropped finance due to its dry nature, so I was nervous to talk about what I was interested in doing. Explaining that I wanted to try out new things in order to find out what I really love, I was at ease when they told me that the internship program would allow me to work on many different things. I’m the type of person that loves changing up my day-to-day schedule and taking on new challenges, so I found that this internship was the perfect opportunity to learn and try out projects that I never would’ve tried otherwise. As I was leaving, I heard 2 Chainz playing on the speakers and fell a little harder for Radius.
The Initial Impression
My first week starting off, I met the other interns as well as the rest of the team. The environment was friendly, my favorite EDM music was playing on the speakers, coffee flowed like water, everyone was working hard but also taking the time to socialize, and I took it all in, knowing that I had found a company whose culture and values fit mine. I’m the type of person who takes a while to relax and act like my normal self in a new environment, but it happened in no time at Radius. It was probably my About Me presentation that set it off. Nowhere I had worked before cared about letting the office know about who I was and my interests, so I decided to let everyone know the “unique” side of me off the bat. After the generic passions and general info slides, I showed a bit of my personality and humor with my “weird” talents slide. So I went ahead and barked, licked my elbow, cried like a new-born baby, etc. until I had the room cracking up. Weirdly enough, I had stumbled upon a great group of diverse and accepting people that found it entertaining, and I knew that I had found a place that fit me.
The Work and Skills
I was given a project of working on eDentalImage, helping improve the SEO of the website by editing the blogs and changing words to make them more dental search engine friendly. There was a great feeling of accomplishment when I was asked to publish them all onto the website, and I knew that I had taken part in helping develop the company website. I’m currently working on writing new blogs for CarCareConnect, and the more I research on how to write effective blogs, the more I learn about optimizing the website in different ways. I was able to apply things I had learned in my IT class and actually put it to use. Working with digital marketing, I have learned so much about utilizing social media and the importance of an efficient company website. These have just been the initial projects, but I can’t wait to take on other projects that teach me new skills and push the borders of my learning.
The Company Culture
As I am learning new things and taking on different projects, I can’t help but be excited everyday that I’m here. Every Friday, we have catered lunch from a variety of amazing Atlanta restaurants that I never knew existed. Food is a passion of mine, and they take food very seriously here–a great thing in my opinion. Everyone works hard, seen in the increasing numbers we hear about at each meeting, but we also know how to play hard. I’ve learned the importance of creating a company culture that fosters the growth of the relationship of the team, and I fall more and more in love with Radius each day because of it. Also, I’m taking an organizational behavior class, and everything that I’ve learned in that class about a great company environment has been defined by what Radius does. There’s always company social events, including an upcoming Karaoke night at the office, and I can’t wait to get to know the people even more. I feel more and more at home as time goes on.
From Here On
I’m excited to keep on working and developing all sorts of skills with RadiusOnline. I love the people that I work with, learning new things that I never thought I’d be interested in, trying new foods, drinking coffee on the daily like a boss, and growing with a company that is doing great things. Here’s to a great semester!