On January 4, 2021, I started my co-op term with SimplyCast. A major part of the Dalhousie Commerce Co-op program is students being required to take three co-op terms throughout their degree. These co-op positions range from finance, marketing, accounting, and more. I am interested in a career in marketing and had been applying to positions for a couple months with not much luck. Then I saw the job posting for a Marketing Technology Associate at SimplyCast and thought it may be the perfect fit.
Before applying to SimplyCast, I had to do a bit of research to determine what they’re all about. I had never heard of the company but the job posting was very intriguing. After having the interview and doing a bit more research, I decided to accept the position. It was a great decision and I’m very glad I decided to join the team.
What were my responsibilities?
As a Marketing Technology Associate, my main responsibility was to create various types of content for the SimplyCast website and social media pages. Each week I would create blogs for our website and social media posts for our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages. Here are some notable projects I worked on throughout the term:
- University course: One of the bigger projects I completed was a course for users to learn about the Form Builder application within the SimplyCast software. This project included creating assignments, quizzes, a final exam, and glossary.
- Email course: Another big project that I completed was a 30-day email course. The idea for this project was that people interested in learning more about SimplyCast’s software can sign up for this course and receive daily emails. This course consisted of 30 days of emails to teach users about the Form Builder application and how it can be used.
- Whitepaper: I also completed a whitepaper for the Form Builder application. The whitepaper was more professional-style writing, as opposed to the blogs and other creative writing I did. I also had to create my own use cases, which was a fun task.
- Webinar: The webinar was the only project I had for my second channel, Recall. I created a slideshow of some FAQs, benefits of the channel, features, and more.
- Vertical market page: The vertical market page was something unique we worked on. It wasn’t necessarily focused on one application, but instead focused on how to use SimplyCast for a certain vertical market. For example, my topic was orchestration software, so I had to create a vertical market page showing how SimplyCast’s software can be used to create one seamless solution instead of having multiple automated tasks.
What did I learn from this co-op?
There were a few major things that I learned this term. The first thing was my time management and how to manage my time more efficiently. I quickly learned that working full-time from home is much different than just doing online school. All of my classes for the fall 2020 semester were online and that took a while to get used to. Working from home is a completely different story. Instead of being able to work for 30 minutes or an hour here and there on a project or assignment, I had to be working from 9:30AM-6:00PM each day. I had breaks, of course, but it was still a lot different. It took a while to get used to managing my time differently, but I ended up adjusting pretty well.
Another thing I learned was how to use different styles of writing. I had a lot of projects that involved a lot of professional writing, such as the whitepaper. But I also wrote lots of blogs and other pieces of writing where I could be more creative. I think it was a good balance and it was nice to switch between the two.
Why I would recommend SimplyCast
I would recommend SimplyCast to any student looking for a co-op, or anyone that is looking for a job in general. One of the main reasons why I would recommend SimplyCast is because of how welcoming the team was. The company brought in nearly 20 brand new co-op students, and they mentioned that this is the largest group of students they have ever had. Even after the initial training week and onboarding process, everyone was still welcoming, and I never hesitated to ask anyone a question if I had one. The team members made everyone feel welcome and would ensure us that each of us are doing something to help the company succeed.