Coca Cola Intern shares her experience

August 21, 2006 - Jackie Barbitta, fifth year senior double majoring in Spanish and Business Management-Marketing, spent her summer at an internship at The Coca Cola Company, working on a project that let her combine her interests in both Spanish and marketing. She agreed to answer a few questions about the experience. Jackie is preparing to graduate in May 2007.

Q. Is this your first internship?
A. No, I interned with the Esteé Lauder Company in New York City as a promotional assistant.

Q. How did you go about selecting and securing this internship?
A. I have always wanted to gain my first corporate experience from a company that is known for its outstanding marketing, this being an integral part in driving and creating indistinguishable world-renowned brands.  … The Coca-Cola Company came to mind immediately, with its trademark that is known throughout the world.  I wanted to learn from the best and believed that The Coca-Cola Company would be able to provide me with appropriate learning and experience to witness how true brand building begins.

I began to pursue an internship for the summer of 2006 in May of 2005. The Coca-Cola Company usually only hires MBA marketing interns, so it took repetitive contacting and networking to have my resume looked at by the correct person.

Q. Provide a few details about the internship: is this part of a company program, how selective is it, a little about the process of getting selected

A. This is part of a company internship program. However, the majority of summer interns are MBAs and the process is extremely selective, consisting of multiple rounds of interviews. My interview was done in English and Spanish, speaking with the director of the team I would intern for and the HR college recruitment representative. It took a total of about six months from the time my resume was looked at until I was offered an internship with the company.

Q. What were your expectations going into the internship?

A. I actually went into the internship with high expectations. I knew prior to my starting date that I would have a summer-long project with a final presentation to senior management.

Although my expectations were high, Coca-Cola had no problem exceeding them. From the very beginning, I was treated as a full-time employee, included on all meetings, presentations, team brainstorming sessions, and company activities. Every person in the company was excited to have me on board, always willing to assist me or give advice. The team I worked on was hardworking and dedicated to making my experience the best. Not only was my manager a “boss,” but more importantly, he was a mentor. Grabbing lunch together and discussing how to approach getting a job after graduation, what type of MBA program I should pursue, companies to work for, and how to “make it” in the corporate world. I honestly could not have asked for a better manager/mentor over these past three months.

Q. How did you prepare yourself for the experience, or what was your approach to 'getting started' when you got there?

A. Fortunately, I had experience interning in the past and working at a law firm. That gave me the professional and organizational skills necessary in any job. My approach to “getting started” was to take it all in the first week and really see how things ran. I didn’t want to assume or come to conclusions too fast on how the company operated. After getting my feet wet by sitting in on meetings, everything else came naturally.

Q. What was expected of you as an intern with the company?

A. The bar was set high in a good way! The Hispanic marketing team had never had an undergrad intern before. Therefore, my project and much of my responsibility was modeled after the MBA Brand Marketing interns. This was great because it fostered an environment where I was really motivated to exceed all prior self initiated goals.

Q. A few examples to reflect what you did, and what you learned/gained from the experience

A. My summer project was to analyze qualitative and quantitative data regarding Copa Coca-Cola. This is a Hispanic youth soccer tournament executed via the Hispanic marketing team. I analyzed data, by way of contacting Coca-Cola market researchers, PR personnel, and our marketing agency. I then composed a deck with recommendations for the program in 2007. Both the analysis and recommendations were presented to senior management my last week as an intern.

I cannot begin to write everything I learned from my internship. I believe the most important, yet often overlooked aspect would be how to really communicate and network in a world where everyone else around you has his or her own agenda.  This is not taught in class, yet is a necessary skill to have once in the corporate world.

Also, the other important learning that I gained for this internship was how important presentation skills are. I clearly remember my manager telling me early on that it is really 80% how you present and 20% the data you are presenting.  Obviously, the material has to be there but executing it in front of an audience and getting the results you want is a very difficult concept to grasp. These are two invaluable assets that are often only skimmed across in class textbooks.

Q. Any examples of how you feel you contributed to the company

A. It is exciting to say that I believe I really contributed to The Coca-Cola Company. The project I worked on this summer is a current property that needed to be analyzed and then tweaked based on that analysis. I feel that The Coca-Cola Company will have an even better property to execute due to the collaborative efforts of many people, including myself.