Sharing of FGF Recipients: LO Man Ching
FGF Activity: Unpaid Local Internship
LO Man Ching (China Studies – Geography)
This learning activity is to work at a publisher as an intern. I had to assist with some marketing work for the team. My duties include doing research, organizing data, and helping with digital editing. Apart from working in the office, I needed to help in the Hong Kong Book Fair as well.
The internship allowed me to learn some marketing tactics. I got the opportunity to create a feed to advertise books. It was my first time writing a social media post to promote goods. The task was more “serious” than I expected. Not only the tone, but also the selection of wordings, and even the use of emoji was important. The most crucial one was to catch the audience’s awareness and raise their interest. At first, I emphasized the characteristics and the uniqueness of our products. Some general benefits that people could get from our products were just briefly mentioned. After listening to my supervisor’s advice, I realized that I needed to know who I was targeting at. Shifting the angle from the product itself to consumers’ needs was essential. Thinking about what problems the target audience was facing and what they expected to gain from our products was the first step. I learned to put the highlight at what specific benefits consumers could receive so the feed could be more effective. Besides, I acquired the skill of using specific software to make graphics. Before the start of the book fair, the marketing team had to prepare some marketing materials like posters and some small cards. I helped to produce some cards using software that I have never used before. As those materials would be shown to readers during the book fair, we had to consider how they should be designed so they could be more reader-friendly.
My career path seemed to be clearer after this internship. Before, I was not sure what kind of job I would like to try in the future. Everything was uncertain and I felt frustrated as I would be graduated next year. This internship helped me to explore and understand myself. My impression of office work was nice before this internship had started as handling paperwork every day seemed that challenging. I once thought that kind of job might suit me. However, I found that sitting in the back office and handling different data every day was quite boring. However, the time that I worked at the book fair was remarkable. I was involved in preparing promoting materials, set up the booth before the start of the book fair as well as disassemble it after the end of the fair. During the book fair, I could help in some events organized by the publisher and communicate with different people. I was satisfied to see the success of an event that I have put the effort in. In the future, I may consider not applying for back-office jobs but find jobs that can get in touch with different individuals and parties.