My internship at Sihl
An insight into the everyday work of the marketing department
The team I worked with was great, because my colleagues welcomed me with open arms. That immediately gave me a good feeling, which is why I felt very comfortable here. Every day I came into the office with a smile.
Staff interviews, AEC & YouTube
I was given very exciting tasks and gained many impressions. On the very first day, I was allowed to watch the upcoming employee interviews and was given a small tour of the building and the AEC, the Advanced Experience Center at Sihl, a super-large and modern application centre. There I met Fabian Ossen, who is Head of Supply Chain Management. The interview with him was super interesting because I got to know what he does in his job and what he deals with every day. Who I met on the same day was Marion Pongartz. She works in Customer Service. I had a lot of fun listening to her because she is so passionate about her job.
The next day, my knowledge was in demand. I was supposed to revise Sihl’s YouTube channel. The special thing here was that on the one hand I got a good explanation of what needed to be improved where, but I still had my freedom in implementing it. Thus, I improved my social media knowledge through this task and learned to create new descriptive formulations.
Production tour: Frida meets Frieda
The highlight of the day for me was the production tour. The head of production and technology, Jannis Wolski, showed me all the machines and gave me lots of insights behind the scenes. And then came the highlight of my internship: all the machines at Sihl have women’s names. And the best part – the biggest machine is called Frieda. I was overwhelmed by Frieda, I have never seen such a big machine before. When we went on and Mr Wolski said “And now I’ll show you Paula!”, I thought I wasn’t hearing right. Because my sister is also called Paula. I expected anything, but not that! It was a funny and unforgettable moment in my internship.
On my third day, with support, I was allowed to get to know two programmes that are important for the marketing area to edit photos and videos. I especially liked the fact that I didn’t just watch, but that I was also allowed to participate myself: Selecting, editing and cutting photos and videos from my internship. I had a lot of fun because I could contribute my ideas and be creative.
Sihl Direct competition
On my fourth day, I had a big task ahead of me. Sihl Direct has a competition coming up soon, which had to be planned. So, my task was clear. I was totally excited because I was allowed to collect and plan a complete competition and ideas for it myself. Of course, there was a guideline as a framework, but I had a lot of freedom in this task. It was super fun. Not only did I learn a lot of things, but I was also able to work and research independently. You’re probably wondering when the competition is and what you can win, but I won’t tell you. Let yourself be surprised, follow Sihl Direct on social media, check the website from time to time and wait and see!
On my last day as an intern, I wrote this text here and helped publish it on the social media channels.
My conclusion
My internship was exactly as I imagined it would be. I was able to get to know the company from different perspectives and many people, not only from the marketing department – and everyone was super nice. I was given tasks that were part of today’s digitalised everyday life, which were suitable for me and with which I felt comfortable.
This internship helped me perfectly to become sure about what I want to do professionally. It reinforced my desire to become part of such a large industrial company. And I can recommend the decision to do an internship to anyone who is unsure about what they want to do professionally in future. Try it out and be open to new things!