Had Khan ’19: LanguageOM – Getting selected as a Digital Marketing Intern for LanguageOM was an accomplishment I cherished thoroughly at the closing of my freshman year. When I first came to Wabash, I was told by many upperclassmen and peers that finding an internship isn’t the easiest when you are a freshman; and that not getting an internship at this time should not disappoint me. Nevertheless, with the invaluable assistance from Career Services I was able to land at that internship opportunity which I found to be the most coveted for myself. To work 8 weeks for a company based in Chicago was already a big selling point and I tried my best through my humble efforts to achieve this goal. I applied to almost a dozen other internships through Wabash’s online platform but the ones offered by the SBIF (Small Business Internship Fund) enticed my interest very greatly. Primarily because these internships are based outside the state of Indiana and as an international student, I wanted to spend more time exploring new places in the United States. As a student aspiring to go to a law school, I was looking for legal internships but soon realized that it might not be a bad idea to look into other fields as well. Getting out of my comfort zone to explore new things which might look out of reach and uninteresting at the first glimpse is what I’ve learnt the most after one year of Wabash’s liberal arts education.
LanguageOM is a Chicago and Beijing based company that focuses on providing professional English learning experience to young business professionals in China. The company being a startup got me even more excited while applying for the position. I wanted to do something that was not particular to one set of things done repetitively, rather I wanted to immerse myself in all sorts of environments that persist in a professional atmosphere. As a startup, LanguageOM was just offering it all. With the gracious opportunities given to me by the CEO of the firm himself, I was involved in performing market research on competitors, developing course plans, recruiting tutors and understanding the finances on top of taking care of the company’s coordination section. For coordinating, I utilized Microsoft Excel regularly which gave me an insightful understanding of the complexities that lie within that platform. Now I can do a lot more in Excel with much ease and efficiency. I will be taking a course on Excel next semester and hopefully the knowledge that I have gained from working on coordinating tasks this summer will give me an edge over other students.
Of the aforementioned duties that I performed, the one I liked the most was developing course plans. Essentially, course plans were the lessons I created at different levels of English language for the wide variety of company’s clientele; ranging from middle school children to advanced English speakers of China. I was able to polish my reading, writing, and critical thinking skills with this task which I believe would help me a long way, not only in my student career but also afterwards. After getting selected for this internship, I was pondering on one question only, that how would the things I learn here help me in law school and the legal field? Once I started working on the course plans, I realized the skills I am attaining by working on them would pave a path for me to excel in any profession. I met some lawyers to discuss about digital marketing and law, which I thought were polar opposites. To my astonishment, all of them affirmed that such internships only help in expanding one’s scope about various aspects of the law, which is the key to becoming a good lawyer.
Not just this, before starting my internship I was solely interested in the International and Constitutional aspects of the law. However, with this opportunity I realized how great the purview is for corporate and business law; and how well the business field merges with the legal one in this day and age. With all that I have learnt from my internship, I think it would not only help me in getting a good grasp on things in regards with the law school but also on the overall understanding of business, management, and finances. The things which are a must to be understood if one has to excel in any field they may choose. Furthermore, with this opportunity I was able to learn how to conduct myself in a professional manner at all times, something which many students lack when they first land at their professional jobs. The opportunity that I’ve been given by the SBIF is one that has had a definite impact on me and I am very grateful for the generosity with which I was given the stipend to make the most out of my internship experience.