Intern of the Week: Madeleine Songer for Media & Com Studies

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:39:12 -0400
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Name: Madeleine Songer

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Black Hills Information Security

Position Title: Content and Community Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s):Media and Communication Studies, Minor in Entrepreneurship

Current Class Level: Sophomore

Work Term: Spring 2020

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

At Black Hills Information Security I have gotten the opportunity to create visual guide instructions to the hit card game, Backdoors & Breaches. In addition to this, I get to perform daily administrative tasks that include organizing who we ship merchandise to, interacting with thousands of webinar attendees, and attending meetings with supervisors, other members of the content and community team, and our company founder.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

Dr. Snyder reached out to the MCS department on December 18th! So, I gave it a chance, and submitted my cover letter and resume on December 23rd. I heard back from Jason Blanchard on January 6th. On January 6th, I had my first phone interview with Deb Wigley. The first interview went well, so I then had a phone interview with Jason Blanchard. After having another good interview, I qualified for the intern challenge. The Intern Challenge had three components:

1. Watch “How to Social Engineer Your Way Into a Dream Job” by Jason Blanchard

2. Identify two dream jobs, and locate two recruiters for each of those companies

3. Find Jason’s personal email

After the challenge, the pool of candidates went from nine to three. On Wednesday, January 26th, I had my final, and in-person interview at Oca Mocha in Arbutus. Deb and Jason both came, and after a few short discussions, they taught me how to play Back Doors & Breaches. This became the game that would shape my internship. I was hired on February 6th, and began working February 23rd. To help me with this process, I had my resume reviewed initially last year, and I used practice questions to help with the interviews.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?

I've loved having to learn about working remotely, and meeting deadlines for projects.

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

I believe I've made an impact through my work because I was able to provide hundreds of thousands of people with visual instructions to a card game that will make it much easier to learn how to play.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

My advice would be to take every opportunity you get! I didn't think I would be ready for an internship as a sophomore on top of being on UMBC's Varsity Swim Team, but it has been a fantastic experience!

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Monday!