In this project, you will develop an internship brief that reflects on your internship experience. Your brief will reflect on how concepts, theories, and practices are used within a real-world workplace and how they can be applied

MKT 490 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview Internships offer a preliminary view into the industry and career path you have been working toward throughout your academic experience at SNHU. Through this internship, you will have the opportunity to challenge yourself by applying theoretical knowledge and program outcomes; communicating ideas, suggestions, and relevant information; identifying areas for professional self-development; and reflecting upon the experience gained.

In this assessment, you will reflect on your internship experience by creating an internship brief. The real-world working environment is dynamic and complex, and some things can only be experienced in a real-world setting. Your internship brief will look at how the things you have learned in the classroom translate to a real-world work setting, as well as what things took place that were never mentioned in the classroom.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

 Apply theoretical knowledge and program competencies in solving practical, real-world problems within a professional fashion merchandising or retail setting

 Communicate ideas, suggestions, or relevant information in a professional manner appropriate for the fashion merchandising or retail industry  Identify opportunities for self-improvement within a professional fashion merchandising or retail setting  Articulate how knowledge and experience gained via the internship can be effectively implemented in achieving professional goals

Prompt In this project, you will develop an internship brief that reflects on your internship experience. Your brief will reflect on how concepts, theories, and practices are used within a real-world workplace and how they can be applied to your future professional goals.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Company A. Describe the fashion merchandising or retail company where you completed this internship, and explain why you chose this company. B. Explain your duties and responsibilities within this fashion merchandising or retail organization with regard to why you selected this specific

internship opportunity.

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II. Application of Theory A. Describe how you applied the theories you learned during your academic program to actual practices within the fashion merchandising or retail

organization. For example, in what ways did you apply what you have learned in solving problems or engaging in workplace practices? B. How did the projects you were involved in allow you to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting the outcomes of your

program?

III. Observed Differences A. Describe the differences between the theories you learned in the classroom and workplace practices in this internship experience. For example,

what about this experience challenged your assumptions about the theories you learned in an academic setting? B. Describe how these differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices within the fashion merchandising or retail industry.

IV. Future A. Describe a situation or event that took place during your internship that you had to respond to. How might you respond differently to that

situation in the future? B. If you had the opportunity to do this experience over, how would you approach it differently and why? (If you would not have approached

anything differently, explain why not.) For example, was there key feedback that you received from a colleague or supervisor at the end of the experience that informed how you would have approached certain tasks or represented yourself?

C. What would you like to have accomplished that you were unable to because of time, other priorities, and so on? How would experience from these accomplishments have benefited you in a professional setting? For example, was there a project you wanted to finish? Or were there projects you would like to have been involved in that would have provided you opportunities to network with others?

D. Describe the impact this experience has had on your professional goals. Did it change them or just reaffirm them? Why? E. Identify insight that you gained from this experience that you could not learn in a classroom setting. Why is this insight valuable? F. Describe the connection(s) between your internship experience and your academic program. What specific knowledge and/or skills did you

acquire or enhance as they relate to your professional goals?

Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your internship brief should be 7 to 10 pages in length with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and adherence to APA guidelines for all formatting and citations.

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Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Company: Company Meets “Proficient” criteria and is exceptionally clear and contextualized

Describes the company where the internship was completed and explains why the company was chosen

Describes the company where the internship was completed and explains why the company was chosen, but explanation is cursory or illogical

Does not describe the company where the internship was completed

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Company: Duties and Responsibilities

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is well supported with examples from experience

Explains duties and responsibilities, connecting them to reason for selecting internship opportunity

Explains duties and responsibilities but response lacks specificity in connecting them to reason for selecting internship opportunity

Does not explain duties and responsibilities

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Application of Theory: Applied

Theories

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes application of theories to actual practices within the organization

Describes application of theories to actual practice but response is illogical, lacks specificity, or contains inaccuracies

Does not describe how theories apply to actual practices

8

Application of Theory: Outcomes

of Program

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is well supported with examples from experience

Explains how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes

Explains how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes but response is illogical or lacks specificity

Does not explain how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes

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Observed Differences: Differences

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship

Describes differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship but response is illogical or lacks specificity

Does not describe differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship

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Observed Differences: Impact

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices within the industry

Describes how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices but response is illogical or lacks specificity in connecting to effective practice within the industry

Does not describe how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices

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Future: Situation or Event

Meets “Proficient” criteria and description is exceptionally clear and contextualized

Describes a situation or event that took place during the internship that was personally responded to and determines how that situation or event might be handled differently in the future

Describes a situation or event that took place during the internship that was personally responded to and determines how it might be handled differently in the future but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not describe a situation or event that took place during the internship and how that situation or event could be handled differently in the future

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Future: Approach Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Determines how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why

Determines how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not determine how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why

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Future: Accomplished

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well-supported with examples from experience

Describes desired accomplishments that were not achieved and the commensurate benefits these accomplishments might have brought in a professional setting

Describes desired accomplishments that were not achieved but does not connect these to the benefits they might have brought in a professional setting or response is illogical or cursory

Does not describe accomplishments that were not achieved

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Future: Professional Goals

Meets “Proficient” criteria and draws especially cogent connections between the internship experience and professional goals

Describes the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why

Describes the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why, but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not describe the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why

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Future: Insight Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates sophisticated insight into the value of real-world experience

Identifies insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting and explains why the insight is valuable

Identifies insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting and explains why the insight is valuable but explanation lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not identify insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting

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Future: Connection(s)

Meets “Proficient” criteria and employs real-world examples to support connections

Describes the connections between internship experience and academic program, relating knowledge and skills gained to professional goals

Describes the connections between internship experience and academic program but does not relate knowledge and skills gained to professional goals or response is illogical or cursory

Does not describe the connections between internship experience and academic program

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Articulation of Response

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

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Total 100%

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Name: Megan George

Why you are getting your degree? What are some of your career goals? :

I am getting my degree because I can have more career options that way.

Some career goals are to either be a social media marketer in the fashion industry or to stat-up my own business.

Internship Site: P2P

Internship Supervisor: Pete Kish

Internship Supervisor email and phone:

[email protected]

(484)223-8054

Please list out your responsibilities:

Social Media Posts Data Entry Email Newsletters or promotions

Write out your learning objectives for the internship:

Increase brand awareness Increase engagement with customers Differentiate the company from competitors

In my second week in my internship with P2P, the duties I’ve primarily been working on is

data entry. I am meant to track existing customers agreement expiration dates. Then, flag the

billing contact in an application called HubSpot. I need to ensure the main agreement signer’s

information such as proper titles and phone numbers etc. are all in HubSpot. I need to add or

change the company address, phone number, and other pertinent information from the agreement

document that isn’t listed or does not match the current data in the application. As of right now,

my duties are very tedious, but each week is new material to be learned.

Currently, I cannot think of any theories from my academic career that relate to the work

I’ve been completing at P2P. However, a course I’ve taken at SNHU that’s given me insight into

what I’ve been working on is business law one and two. This is because the course consists of

contracts and sales, which is mentioned regularly throughout my tasks. Any theories I could

apply given the opportunity, include: meeting customers needs and organizational goals, target

market selection, product selection, promotion, and distribution and pricing. These theories can

be applied to other duties I will be provided such as social media posts and email promotions.

For week three, my duties in my internship were creating posts for P2P's socials, which include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Before beginning promotional content, the company posts motivational sayings or quotes every Monday to entice current customers. The company had me create multiple "Motivational Monday" posts for the next coming months.

Following the question: how have you demonstrated your knowledge, skills, and abilities in your internship projects? I believe through my personal job as an admin. assistant tasks such as data entry, which I focused on last week in my internship is a common duty for me in my current job. Additionally, the marketing course at SNHU gave me prior knowledge in how to create ads making this new project easier to grasp. Furthermore, the platforms I used for my internship are relatively the same as the ones I use at work, which helps me adjust much quicker. My internship with P2P, challenges me when it comes to needing assistance since I am doing my internship remotely, however, I am able to utilize a vast majority of the knowledge, skills, and abilities I've gained from both SNHU, but also my current work position.

In week four of my internship with P2P, I finally progressed to creating social media marketing.

In regards to the task at hand, I’ve been optimizing and growing their presence on social media

with ads, which describe how the company aids and services their clients. I was instructed to

compose several posts that were all unique therefore the company could post them in the coming

months. It’s a great way to grab attention to incoming clients as well as a reminder to current

clients all the company offers to them.

I’ve noticed theories I’ve learned in the classroom are more by the book and don’t leave a lot of

wiggle room for theories that go off the page. However, in workplace practices in both my

current job position and in the internship companies want to hear different theories since it could

be provided as useful for their clients and company as a whole.

As mentioned previously, the impact could be drastic as it could alter the entirety of the company

if the choose to utilize the different theories presented to them. Furthermore, it could potentially

lead to other businesses finding these new strategies more effective leading to many in the

industry using these newfound skills.

In week five of my internship with P2P, there isn't much to report in comparison to last week. I've been creating more social media marketing posts. Concerning the task, I've been continuing the optimization of their social media presence whilst also creating "Motivational Monday" posts as I did in the first few weeks of my internship. It gives the company more traction since it reminds clients what P2P stands for. In the coming weeks, it seems that my duties will mainly consist of these two tasks, however, I am becoming more familiar with these tasks, and you can see the growth from last week's work to this week's work.

In regards to week five of my internship with P2P, I’ve continuing working on social media

marketing posts, however, another task I got assigned was sending email newsletters to lists of

P2P contacts based in the United States. I formulated email scripts or as the marketing world

calls it copies, for solutions to their contacts or clients companies. Since other tasks have become

more familiar to me taking on a new task was refreshing even though the new task was difficult

to navigate at first especially with the lingo used. If I had the opportunity to do this experience

different, how would I approach it differently? I personally have thoroughly enjoyed my

experience at P2P, however, I would have preferred to work in person rather than remotely

because it has shown to be very tough for me.

In regards to week seven of my internship with P2P, my duties included the continuation of social media marketing posts as well as sending email newsletters to lists of contacts. Since the internship is coming to a close, I’ve been focusing on these duties entirely and will be for the remainder of this course. A skill I would of like to accomplish, but was unable to due to time and other priorities would be sales. P2P is a company that specialize in consulting and advisory services and sales is incredibly because that’s how the company makes income. I find sales incredibly intimidating, but it would be interesting to learn in any aspect and see if it would be a skill, I could grasp eventually.