Sam Preskins, rising sophomore at an unnamed top tier liberal arts college reports that his Social Media and Digital Communications Internship with a small tech start-up in San Francisco “has been a really enriching experience.”
“Yeah it’s a small office so I end up with a lot of responsibility. I get to do stuff that’s really value-added,” said Preskins seated on a small wooden crate he earnestly described as “ergonomic” and “eco-friendly” in that it was recycled from the dumpster behind the office.
“I really feel like I have creative control, you know?” Preskins explained, referring to tweets issued to the firm’s 7 followers. “I get to totally define the ZoomBox brand in these 140 characters. It’s gonna look great on my Deloitte application.”
ZoomBox, the start-up, specializes in delivering a quaint service no one needs to hipsters in the Haight-Ashbury, via Android app.
“Plus it’s a great networking opportunity. I’m building some serious rapport with my colleagues. Jonah, our CEO – super chill guy– even gave me a nickname.” Jonah refers to Sam as “Jesse” because that was the name of the previous summer’s intern.
“Yeah, he calls me Jesse, which I’m pretty sure had to do with the fact that I mentioned I like Breaking Bad,” answered Preskins when asked about his nickname. “I love it. It’s like, I’m like his partner in crime, you know? Or his son.”
Preskins’ LinkedIn lists his responsibilities as “Synergizes social media and online engagement exposure campaign; Leverages creative toolsets to exponentialize brand boosting; Manages caffeine distribution for an office of over nine (9).” His resume lists social media sites, including MySpace and SoundCloud in the skills section. Preskins’ desk, a low file cabinet adjacent to the printer, boasts a stainless steel box of 400 business cards identifying him as “Arbiter of New Media Directioning.” He encloses these within his lunch-bags, which his co-workers steal, to “get [his] name out there.” His desk also includes a framed photograph of the ZoomBox team, which he is not in, because he was holding the camera.
“I really feel like this position dovetails with my core competencies. My years of witty Facebook statuses, which use puns to describe Slate articles and regularly receive tens of likes, definitely prepared me for this job.” When asked what skill in particular his internship has taught him so far, Preskins responds: “Leadership.”
“The environment here is really laid-back too,” Preskins explained, picking splinters out of his aggressively ironed slim-fit khakis. “Sometimes the whole office goes out for drinks after work.”
“I mean, I don’t go with them ‘cause they never tell me where specifically they go, but I bet my fake probably wouldn’t work there anyway so it’s cool.”
Preskins’ current assignment is to set up a ZoomBox Instagram that automatically posts photos of ZoomBox Facebook status updates which link to ZoomBox tweets. “It’s nice to have a project I can really sink my teeth into,” Preskins said. “Wait that’s golden! Let me get that down.”
Preskins turned to his computer to post a Facebook status describing ZoomBox as “something to really sink your teeth into” and attached a macro of a cat and a cheeseburger.
“Yeah,” murmured Perkins to himself as he logged into his personal Facebook to ‘like’ the status. “Deloitte is gonna love this.”
– Dante Toppo CMC ’15 with joke contributions from Liat Kaplan CMC ’17
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