The Internship Pod: A summary of Gina and Sofia's internship

Good news! We're now launching a new segment of The Onlinification Pod. It's called The Internship Pod, and we'll be releasing an episode every second week with interviews hosted by me - Josefine.

Gina and Sofia's internships have now come to an end, so in this episode, we spoke about how they ended up as interns at Zooma, the highs and lows of doing an internship remotely, and the main takeaways from their time here. A big thanks to Gina and Sofia for joining me this week! 

I hope you enjoy this episode - it's the first of many hosted and created by a Zooma intern. 

If you don't want to miss the upcoming episodes of The Internship Pod, use the links below to find them and subscribe on your favourite platform. I've also added a transcription of today's episode below if you're in a rush.

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Transcription

JK: So welcome, Gina and Sofia, to the first episode of the internship pod.

GV: Thank you.

SH: Thank you.

JK: How are you doing?

GV: It's fine. Yeah, it's really good.

SH: Yeah.

JK: A while back, you got interviewed by Doug for The Onlinification Pod. Right? Yeah. But how does it feel to be back in the podcast in a totally new segment?

GV: It feels great, actually, to be back one more time. It's like first time was, it's always a bit harder the first time you do something. So now it's like, Yeah, old news. Now I'm kidding.

SH: Yeah, I agree.

JK: Nice. But alright. So maybe for the listeners who don't know you already or missed the last episode of the online education pod, maybe you could introduce yourself and how you ended up as interns here at Zooma?

SH: Yeah, sure. Maybe you can start Gina, because your journey ends with my beginning.

GV: Yes. Yeah, yeah, of course, I can start. As you know, I am Gina and I am currently studying marketing automation specialists in a school called Yrkesakademin here in Sweden. And me and Sofia are classmates. We are doing our last term right now. And this is actually our second last day here at Zooma as interns. And then we just have one more course and then we graduate. Yeah, we are studying marketing automation specialist, as I said and how we ended up here in Zooma. Right. Yeah. I was actually trying to get an internship here at Zooma last year for my first internship and I emailed with the Anders and one more here at Zooma. We had a bit contact but they weren't able to take me as an intern because they took another one instead who was going to do the last year. So this year I contacted Anders one more time and we had a dialogue and an interview. And then it turned out that, yeah, he could take me as an intern this time.

JK: Yeah, that's awesome.

SH: My name is Sofia, and like Gina said, we are both studying marketing automation. My journey was that, or what do you call Sophia? I wouldn't call her a teacher. 

GV: Yeah. She's like the one who is in charge of our education. So she is holding all the courses and our classes.

SH: Yes. Yeah. She contacted me in autumn last year and asked if I had an internship, if I had someone already, and I said no. And then she said Anders wanted one more intern. So I just applied. And he took me in right away. So it was very fast for me.

JK: That's nice. Yes. So a smooth kind of journey for you then Sofia. 

GV: I worked for a year. 

JK: Yeah, but I think it's very nice that you got in touch with Anders again. Do you feel that it was a specific reason for that? Like, was it something with the Zoom as a company or why?

GV: Yeah, actually, I tried to remember how I found Zoom for the first time, but I don't really remember. Maybe it's I think maybe it's like, yeah, you have been outside the office as well Josefine, have you seen their really big logo outside on the building? Yeah, it's like huge.

JK: Yes.

GV: So if you just look up for a bit, you can't miss it. So maybe that's where I saw it the first time, but I know that in some reason I entered the website and I read about them and I just got a really great feeling about the company. I thought that they had great content on the website and yeah, they seem to really know what they're doing and that's not something to take for granted, like for, for most of the companies. So yeah, it was just my gut feeling that said that, yeah, this is a good company.

JK: Did you have any expectations, Sofia, or did you just come along the journey like, let's see what kind of like a company or did you have any?

SH: Yeah, I wanted to try an agency, so it was very fun. When Sophia asked me if I wanted to apply, I was a little bit nervous because I never worked at an agency before. I'm very happy that I did. So, yeah.

JK: Working at an agency is completely new for me as well. So it's definitely special and it's nice to have like so many, so many projects and so many clients going on at the same time. And it's, it's a very interesting way of working.   

GV: Yeah, yeah. It's really different.

JK: Yeah. But unfortunately, as you mentioned a bit earlier, you end your internships very soon, actually tomorrow from today when we record this episode. Yeah. So after your time now here at Zooma as interns, what is the main takeaway from your time here?

GV: I think oh, it's so much so. It's kind of hard to choose. But yes, one thing that hit me is all the new skills I've learned in HubSpot. It's really a great tool and HubSpot has learned me so much more about automation and even marketing, service and sales. And I think also like it has increased my knowledge in how yeah, like how automation works that, but it's not only good for external factors but also for internal processes as well. And that's something I never thought about before.

SH: Why are you going to say everything I want to say?

GV: That's the good thing with being first.

SH: Yeah, I agree with Gina and it's a personal journey too, to realize what I'm good at, and what I want to do in the future. It was hard for me to know because marketing automation is so big, you can do many things. So now Zooma has shown me a way that I want to work with in the future. So yeah. 

JK: Yeah. But before you started studying marketing automation, did you know what it was or was it completely new?

SH: Yeah, I study marketing before, but not specifically marketing automation, that was new for me. 

GV: Yeah. And I had never heard about marketing automation before I found our education actually, so that was completely new for me.

JK: So everything you learned in school until now, do you feel that it helped you during your internship at Zooma?

GV: Yes.

SH: Yeah, yeah, I think so. Even if we didn't have the opportunity to work in HubSpot before, now we could have the hands on if you can say it like that.

GV: Yeah. And I think also the automation part of marketing, it's pretty complex. So I think I wouldn't manage to do all the things that I've done here if I, if I didn't know anything about automation before.

JK: Right. Since I started as an intern at Zooma, and by the way, you welcomed me, you gave me the most warm welcome both of you, and I'm so grateful for that.

SH: I'm glad you thought so.

JK: You live a bit closer to the office than I do, for sure.

GV: Yeah.

JK: I think it's interesting that all of us decided to do an internship more or less remotely. What are your thoughts about, regarding remote work?

GV: Yeah, I think for me, like like everything else, of course it's pros and cons, but I think a great pro is definitely the freedom and that I save both time and money because I don't have to commute since I live a bit outside of Gothenburg, where the office is. And so yeah, I think it's the time, the time saver for me. And also like it's possible to sit from anywhere and work. You don't have to be in a specific place in a specific time. So yeah, for example, I'm going to Spain now for a month to sit there to do some extra work for Zooma and to write and to do our last course. So that's, that's a great pro.

SH: Yeah, I like that I have opportunity to choose if I want to work in the office or at home. But yeah, remotely like Gina said, it has some tops and bottoms.

GV: The con is that like you're missing out of the social part a lot with the colleagues and the team feeling and everything, but we have a lot of Zoom meetings, so we talk to each other a lot anyway. 

SH: Yeah. But the meetings at zoom are much easier remote than it is in the office. And when the day is over you are all already home. So you don't need to take the bus or anything. Yeah, to get home. 

JK: That's true. It's a time saver for sure. But can you see, can you see yourself work remotely like full time later on? Or do you think you would prefer some sort of like hybrid solution where you can both go to an office or how are your thoughts regarding that?

SH: I think I want the hybrid way. I need to talk to people. I need to see people sometimes, and sometimes it is good to sit at home.

GV: Yeah, I think I agree with you, Sophia. I like to have the choice to go to the office or to sit at home or anywhere else. Yeah. 

JK: Yeah, I feel the same. I feel that I change my mind every day. Like some days, I think I would be more like productive if I would be in the office right now. And other days I'm so happy that I work from home. 

GV: Yeah, it really depends which mood you're in. It's like from day to day. Yeah, that's.

JK: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because I feel the same sometimes, of course. Like when you work especially alone from home, like you miss this little small chats my be coffee machine or, you know, just to be able to ask questions like quickly. Yeah, I don't know.

GV: Yeah, yeah, I know. That's why it's to decide. Because once we have been at the office, me and Sophia, then it's like I get so much more energy to be at the office and to meet people. But yeah, it's pros and cons, as we said. Yeah, yeah.

JK: Pros and cons for sure. And and maybe we will never make up our minds 100%. And that's okey.

GV: No, I guess so.

JK: Yeah. Yeah. But wow, we, we have made history recording the first episode of the internship podcast.

GV: Yeah. Nice.

JK: And thank you so much for being my first guests. I'm so happy that you wanted to be here and do this with me.

GV: Oh, thank you. It was really fun to be a part of it.

SH: Yeah. It was so fun. 

JK: Yeah, that's nice. I'm happy that you said that and not the opposite, like, oh, this was horrible. But before we say goodbye for now, I will ask you one last question. So, yeah, we already mentioned it, but you heard the expression pros and cons, right? But I've been thinking like if you ask me cons have some sometimes a bit of like a negative association. So therefore I decided to change the word cons to challenges. So my last question to you are can you describe your time here at Zooma with two pros and two challenges?

GV: Yes, two pros.

GV: If I start with the pros, then it would be number one to like the flexibility to work both remotely and at the office, as we talked about. And also, I think like we haven't learned only about marketing automation, which we are studying, but also so much more about online and digital in general. I guess that's the pros and the challenges. Yeah, it's like to because when we started here, we, we get so many projects and tasks to dig into me and Sofia, which was great, but for me it was kind of hard to prioritize and to structure all of the projects because it was so much. So I think that was a challenge. And the second one to, to take in all the new information because it's a lot of information and I am that kind of person. I think most, most people are that I want to take in all of it and learn everything at once, you know, for from the first day I want. You know everything. But I think I just have to accept to take it slow and take one thing at a time. 

SH: Yeah. And for me, top was. I think everyone is working at Zooma. I like them a lot. They open up their arms for us from the first day and they was very helpful for when we needed some help. I'm very thankful for them. Yeah, and the second one, I think there's almost the same as Gina talked about. Not only learn about marketing automation is just more things in the digital world. Yeah, I think never going to be 100%, that you know everything about it. You're always going to be learning.

GV: Yeah, definitely.

SH: And challenges. Yeah. It was a challenge to to get to get to know HubSpot, to work with it for real. Like how do I do a list, filter it with the right people so I don't send out wrong message to the wrong people. It was a little bit of a challenge, but I think it was very fun thing to learn. And of course when I am nervous, it's hard for me to speak in English, but works sometimes and sometimes not. But I'm still learning and I approved a lot of these 14 weeks, so I'm very happy about it.

JK: Thank you so much, Gina Sofia, for welcoming me as an intern with open arms and good luck with with everything that lies ahead.

GV: Oh, thank you. And good luck with your internship, the rest of it. 

JK: Yeah. I will miss working with you, but I will see you around.

GV: Yeah, we will. I will miss working with you as well.

GV: Thank you.

SH: Thank you so much.