2. Highlight your credentials

Use your blog’s homepage to put your best foot forward. Show your interviewers that there is more to you than SEO. Use the ‘about’ section to showcase positive attitude and native abilities—problem solving, for instance, or out-of-the-box thinking. These are qualities that employers prize. Remember to include a head shot and stay clear of the wacky stuff, keep it professional.

 

(for more information on how to get started with creating a blog, read: our post entitled: How to get ready for a career in digital marketing…)

 

3. Polish your Writing Skills

Digital Marketing by its very nature is content-driven—all forms of content, verbal, video, images, et al. Your ability to write well is a great asset to have. Once again, your blog comes to the rescue. So make it a habit to craft well-written pieces that indicate an enquiring, creative and well-read mind.

4. Get Certified

Your blog will certainly showcase some abilities, but blogs can be built professionally for a fee. And prospective employers do not have a lot of time to spend on sifting through blogs. So they tend to base their employment decisions on hard evidence, such as certifications. If you’ve invested in a formal course from a reputed school of digital marketing, you will get the coaching you need to earn many of the most required certifications. These are mostly offered free by organizations like Google. Some general digital marketing certifications you should put in your portfolio are:

1. Google Ads Certification (search, display, shopping) Bing Ads Certification

2. You can also look at getting a Google Analytics Certification

 

Other Certifications in Digital Marketing that are sought after by employers include:

1. Hoot suite Social Marketing Certification

2. Facebook Blueprint Certification

3. Hubspot Social Media Marketing & Content Marketing Certification

 

You can also consider complementing these with design certifications, such as

1. Adobe Design Certifications

5. Build a network and work it

As we said earlier, organizations receive a flood of applications for internships, and the interviewers have to choose candidates in a very limited time frame. One hack to stand out is a recommendation from somebody within or associated to the employing organization. And that means networking.

 

LinkedIn is the logical place to start networking. Start by connecting with your peers and go on to connections related to your targeted organization/s. It might seem a little forward and maybe even weird to connect with strangers. But if stick with it and you’ll find you path. Try to make your connection requests relatable and keep it real.

Making a connection is just the first step. Once that is done, you need to start a conversation. If you’ve managed to land a connection in a place that has invited you to an interview, ask about the job, or what the position involves.

Once the interview is done, ensure you keep the lines of communication open; that means sending a thank you email or message. You might even want to invite the connection to a coffee-meeting to continue the conversation.

 

Must-have skills for every digital marketing intern

Number one on the list is, of course, proficiency in digital marketing, but above and beyond this, your employer will look for other complementary skills. In a rough order of priority these are:

• Digital Marketing Knowledge
• Digital Marketing Certifications
• English Language Fluency
• Some Proficiency in Local Language/s
• Writing Ability
• Creativity
• Willingness to Learn
• Teamwork
• Problem-solving
• Leadership& Decision-making
• Time-management
• Planning and organisation
• Customer-facing skills

Skills you will develop through your internship

As a digital marketing intern you will have the opportunity to develop several skills, starting with getting comfortable with digital tools. The opportunity to put your learning to work is invaluable. You will learn how to create and curate content, manage social media, SEO skills…in short all the technical skills you need to be an effective online marketing specialist. This is also the perfect place to discover your area of specialization, for instance maybe you have a natural talent and understanding of the elements of SEO, or you excel at community building. This will give you a clear insight on your professional future.

In addition to technical and technology skills you will also learn and improve soft skills like communication, delegation, leadership, time-management, etc. These cross-disciplinary skills will prove invaluable  not just professionally to your future career, but in your personal life too.

What can a digital marketing intern expect to e

As an intern in India, you can expect to start out at somewhere between 12k and 13k a month. The actual figure varies by location and employer rather than job description, because, as a digital marketing intern your role will be a bit of a mixed bag.

Locations by Rank

• NCR
• Mumbai
• Bangalore
• Hyderabad
• Delhi
• Pune