experience matters

Emily Bontje | Critical Mass Calgary

I have learned more in the past 10 weeks as a Critical Mass intern than I have learned in 4 years of university. This is not your typical internship. I have never once been asked to make a pot of coffee or pick up dry-cleaning. My job does not consist of merely shadowing senior employees or of acting as a fly on the wall in meetings (although that can be really interesting!). I was thrown into the business head-first and told to swim. The result is that I have had opportunities to personally lead meetings with our clients, participate in high-level account planning, attend executive presentations on the future direction of CM, meet the president and CEO, and be part of a team that’s doing something BIG! Here are some of the highlights from last week:

Monday: Start of a new week. Free breakfast in the Bistro every morning. Assist in the orientation for one of our new Account Managers who will be moving to Nashville at the end of the week. Get caught up from the weekend, because with a big product launch coming, people never stop working! Collect updates from the Project Managers on all open projects to prepare for the weekly client status meeting. Afternoon meeting with VP’s and team leads to discuss a huge new project I will be managing to enable cross-office integration.

Tuesday: Track down images and files for the client–client requests are top priority. Handle 9-1-1 calls for the impending site launch. Free Italian lunch buffet because the executive team is in town…mmm. Weekly Status Meeting with client, have to make sure all project deliverables are buttoned up and requests are responded to immediately. Fiscal year is coming to a close, so we need to make sure everything is organized, completed, signed, billed, and filed by the end of the month. All with 3 major projects going live at the same time.

Wednesday: Presentation from executive management on the 3-year plan for Critical Mass. Presidents and CEO chat openly about our work, offices, accounts, growth, and new pitches. Definitely not your typical corporate spiel… and no sign of a recession here! 60-100 people hired by September. And the best part? They want fresh new talent! Finish off with beer and chips in the Bistro. Leave pretty darn excited and call my friend to tell her to apply. Up until 2:30 am to assist with a client deliverable. Really feel part of the agency life now!

Thursday: Into the office a little late because of my late night, but that’s not a problem. Pretty crazy day with more emergency ad-hoc requests and meetings. Entire team takes an hour off to go for lunch with a co-worker who leaves on maternity leave the next day. Class in the evening because I am an intern, and I’m still in school. Discuss the characteristics of a “Perfect Project Manager”, which makes me laugh. I work with PM’s every single day… university theory does not equal real life.

Friday: TGIF! Only a few meetings scheduled, so I have time to catch up on my week. Cross a number of things off my list. It amazes me the questions I can answer and the problems I can solve after only 10 weeks. Afternoon meeting with the VP regarding account direction and how it will affect us. Love the level of transparency that the executives have with us. Free beer again, because it’s Friday and we work at Critical Mass.

This is one week, but I cannot say that there is a typical week at CM. I am in a unique situation because I’m part of the Account Team, but 4000 KM away at the headquarters in Calgary, onsite with the full team. This allows me to poke my nose into the Planning, Creative, Development and Marketing Science departments, while sharing a lot of my days with the project managers. Just by opening my eyes and ears, I am developing my skills and gaining a broad perspective into the world of interactive marketing.

I honestly cannot believe how lucky I am to have this opportunity as a student. Sure, some days are crazy-busy, up to your eyeballs with work, and you’re still going at 2:30am. But welcome to the agency world! It’s nothing after pulling all-nighters to study for midterms, edit final papers, and organize group projects. Critical Mass is full of extraordinary people who I get to work with and learn from every day. They’re growing, they’re exciting, and they value ME for who I am and what I can offer…even if that is not yet a university degree.

*If you want to learn more about our internship program, feel free to contact Julie Walyuchow at careers@criticalmass.com.