Recommendations on Marketing Work Attachments (WAs)

Zhong Ci
Oct 16, 2016
3 min read

As our first batch of Year 3 students heads out for their Work Attachments (WA), let’s take a look at what our Marketing students have experienced and learnt in their respective Work Attachment companies.

In this article, we will be sharing more about our students’ experience in their respective roles as a public relations intern and an analytics consulting intern. We asked our fellow students some questions regarding their experiences so far and here are their responses!

To begin with, UCatalyst asked the students to describe a typical day at their respective offices and the work they are tasked with.

As an advanced analytics consulting intern at The Nielsen Company, Zheng Zhi’s typical work day includes tasks such as market research, data analysis and proposal presentation.

Pearl’s role as a public relations intern at Ogilvy and Mather Singapore requires her to do media monitoring for her respective client’s accounts. She also pitches new ideas for campaigns and executes them.

Year 3 Marketing student Pearl taking a shot with her Ogilvy PR colleagues

As a public relations intern at Citibank Singapore, Ryan drafts media coverage reports and write internal newsletters for his department. He is also involved in organising events such as the World Cities Summit for the Citi Corporate Affairs Singapore.

Then, we asked them what they expected their Work Attachment to be like, and how it differed from their schooling experience in UniSIM.

Zheng Zhi shared that in his work with Nielsen, he noticed that tasks and issues faced in research and analytics are often complex in nature and requires problem solving skills far beyond the scope of academic curriculum. He also shared that he was able to meet and learn from seasoned industry experts who acted as his coaches and mentors in this company.

Year 3 Marketing student Zheng Zhi mingling with other Nielsen interns

Working in Ogilvy PR, Pearl shared on how the PR industry requires a higher skill set and knowledge that cannot be picked up easily in school. As such, our perceptions of reality based on our experiences in school may not always be accurate.

Besides performing his daily tasks, Ryan shared that in an intense corporate environment, interns should be independent and play a pro-active role in assisting their teams as their mentors may not be available all the time.

The UCatalyst team also delve deeper into some of their greatest learning points from the Work Attachment thus far.

Pearl explained that working in a PR agency has given her the opportunity to adapt quickly and enhance her capabilities, especially so in an uncomfortable situation. Four months into the internship, Pearl is able to better manage the needs of clients by producing accurate and efficient work. Most importantly, she has learnt the art of communicating with people across different sectors such as her colleagues, the media and her clients.

Ryan participating in the World Cities Summit 2016

event held by Citibank

As for Ryan, he shared that every day at Citibank is a unique experience for him, there is simply so much to learn. He also highlighted that the work attachment helped him to build up his network in Citi Singapore and beyond, which is essential for his career in the future.

Zheng Zhi also emphasised that learning is a lifelong process that goes beyond any fixed settings such as a classroom. His advice is to not be afraid to broaden our horizons and test our limits.

Last but not least, UCatalyst asked the students whether they would recommend their internship to their peers and juniors.

Zheng Zhi recommends his Work Attachment at Nielsen and encourage his peers to do their best.

Pearl advises her peers to take on a PR agency internship if they enjoy a good learning process and stretching themselves to go beyond their current capabilities. However, they need to be mindful that the work requires a huge amount of time and dedication.

Lastly, Ryan points out that working in Citibank Corporate Affairs Singapore is definitely a good platform to experience the corporate world and help them build and improving brand.. On a side note, students will definitely see an improvement in the command of their language as they have to read newspapers and draft newsletters every day.

The UCatalyst team hopes that you have a better understanding of the work attachments available for marketing students. Look forward to our finance and accountancy students’ Work Attachment experience in our next posts.