Perhaps, one rare similarity Cult has with other agencies is we always (yes always) welcome interns with open arms. Who better to share some insights than a recent intern at Cult? So without further ado, allow us to share some thoughts from our most recent summer intern, Josh Champagne.

Ben: Josh, please give us a brief background of your experience.

Josh: I am from Kingston, Ontario and am going into my 4^th and final year at McGill University where I major in marketing, and minor in communications. I’m also on bunch of committees ranging from charities to business case competitions so I stay pretty busy throughout the school year.

Ben: Why did you choose Cult as a place to spend your summer?

Josh: I was searching firms in Kingston, because I wanted to work in my hometown for the summer, and Cult kept popping up. It looked pretty interesting and as I started to read more about the company’s philosophy the more I liked them. In school a lot of my professors talk about the evolution of marketing and how we have to think of things differently from the traditional big ad agencies who just create mass marketing campaigns – instead, it has to be more about engagement. After hearing that constantly and then seeing Cult preach the same ideals it was pretty clear that our way of thinking was aligned, so I made the call.

As I started to read more about the company’s philosophy the more I liked them.

Ben: Can you give us some examples on how you applied your previous experience, whether it is your education or work experience, here at Cult?

Josh: Well the things I’ve done have been pretty varied here at Cult, from actually getting to design some assets for clients, researching and developing competitor benchmarks, to actually giving some presentations to clients. It has been awesome. School has definitely given me a lot of the skills I’ve used thus far, especially in terms of my critical thinking and researching skills. On top of that, the countless presentations we do at school come in handy both when presenting to clients and simply with how you carry yourself in meetings and with others in the industry. Also, school is notorious for piling up quick and my work ethic and ability to juggle different tasks that I was forced to develop at school was a great asset while working here.

School prepares you in a lot of ways but there is so much to learn while working.

The one thing I wish school had given me was some hands on design experience. I discovered while at Cult that I love to design and create things and having classes at school would have been helpful with the basics. I am definitely going to take some classes on my own to develop these further.

Ben: If you can only give us one thing, what is the most valuable takeaway you got from interning at Cult?

Josh: Always leave room for the unexpected in this industry. You could have the perfect schedule and know exactly what you want to do but something will come out of nowhere and you have to adjust on the fly.

Always leave room for the unexpected in this industry.

Ben: Any recommendations for Cult’s future interns?

Josh:

1. Never say no, to a certain point. Take on as many different tasks as you can, when people ask you to do something your first answer should be, “Yes, no problem.” Not only does it show that you are eager to learn but, surprise surprise, you actually do learn. This applies especially for things that you haven’t done before.
2. It’s  important that you get to know people and reach out to them. Everyone is busy and you might feel bad taking up someone’s time, but take a few minutes to talk to everyone and offer your help. Soon the requests will start pouring in and once you prove yourself on some tasks you are golden.
3. One of the biggest things is to ask questions. Everyone started somewhere, if you don’t know something don’t be afraid to ask. Of course before you do you should try and find the answer yourself but if you can’t or you just want an opinion you’re surrounded by some of the best and brightest, so utilize them, they are happy to share.

Cult is definitely more than I could have hoped for from my first internship. They actually care and want you to succeed. That’s a great feeling to have and I couldn’t be happier.

Ben: Well said Josh and thank you. We wish you the best of luck back to school.

There you go folks. Hopefully you learned a thing or two about interning at Cult. Again, we always welcome internship applications so if you’re interested in becoming an intern at Cult, shoot us an email at careers@cult.ca with your résumé and cover letter attached.