Odigo blog

Interns: A tale of innovation and growth at The Odigo Group

Written by Christine Mulcahy | August 20, 2024 5:19:37 PM Z

As another successful summer comes to a close, we continue to be inspired and intrigued by the impressive contributions of our interns. In years past, interns joined us for the summer and then returned to school for the academic year. But as remote work and online learning has shaped this generation, this year’s interns are opting to continue working with us in a part-time capacity throughout the school year! Lucky for us, this summer we had the privilege of working with some of the most talented and innovative interns we’ve seen in our nine years of business. Their fresh perspectives, new skills, and boundless enthusiasm have not only enriched our projects but have also set a new benchmark for excellence.

One UI/UX intern arrived just a week before a new client approached us with a UI/UX project that was a perfect fit! He was able to share his skills and industry-leading design tools with our team of seasoned designers in a ying-yang of mentorship and knowledge share that came together to not only deliver a stellar work project but prompted the client to comment that “he is super sharp – he has a successful career ahead of him!” We couldn’t agree more!

Another intern, a Finance major, offered to lend his business intelligence skills to build a digital marketing dashboard with custom insights and recommendations to streamline reporting and enable our marketers to focus on the creative aspects of improving campaigns and less on interpreting data and weaving it into a narrative. Automating tasks that have long been manual processes is the name of the game these days, and today’s university students are leading the way.

A legacy of growth and development

Since our inception, The Odigo Group has always believed in the power of nurturing young talent. Many of our very first interns have grown with us, transitioning into full-time roles and becoming integral members of our team. These early interns, now seasoned professionals, are thriving in marketing consulting roles, driving key projects, and mentoring the next generation of interns.

In fact, our very first intern came to work for us straight out of college and has worked several roles across the company from project management to writing and digital marketing. She now leads an entire line of business and is looking forward to mentoring new interns in the coming year. Another early intern returned to school to finish her degree in Finance and then spent three years at a Big 4 Accounting Firm before returning to share her data analysis skills with our clients and streamlining business processes. We continue to learn from and be inspired by both of them daily.

Learning and growing together

One of the most rewarding aspects of our internship program is the mutual learning experience it fosters. While our interns gain valuable hands-on experience and mentorship, we, in turn, benefit from their fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. This dynamic exchange of knowledge and skills is what makes our internship program so special.

In fact, our social media marketing intern continuously shares new platforms and recommendations for how our clients could show up in new and creative ways to resonate with younger generations. We are looking forward to continuing to evolve our content delivery channels to show up where our clients’ customers gather.

She not only contributes to our projects but also challenges us to think differently and embrace new approaches. Our interns’ curiosity, creativity, and willingness to push boundaries have inspired us to continuously evolve and improve our solutions. We are excited to see how their contributions will shape the future of The Odigo Group.

Collaborating with academia: Texas Immersive Institute

In addition to our in-house internship program, we are proud to collaborate with the Texas Immersive Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. This partnership allows us to connect industry with academia, fostering an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and be brought to market. By working closely with the talented students and faculty at the Texas Immersive Institute, we are able to stay at the forefront of emerging trends and technologies, incubating our own immersive marketing solution offerings (stay tuned for more on this soon).

The Texas Immersive Institute has become a center of excellence in the field, and they are now collaborating with other Universities and SXSW to establish an Immersive Experience Alliance as there’s clearly a huge demand for education in this field. The MIX Center at Arizona State University is another program leading the way in designing immersive storytelling experiences.

One of our newly onboarded project management interns is a Business Marketing major at ASU, and another of our interns is considering the MIX Center program. Both are actively using Open AI and Microsoft Copilot to find answers as they ramp up quickly on their new roles and spark new ideas to share with the team. It’s hard to define what the future looks like for them at The Odigo Group, because according to Dell Technologies and the Institute for the Future (IFTF), an estimated 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet. How exciting is that?

A heartfelt thank you

To our incredible interns (past, present, and future), we want to extend our heartfelt thanks. Your hard work, dedication, and passion have made a lasting impact on our team and our projects. You have set a new standard for what it means to be an intern at The Odigo Group, and we are grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you.

As you continue your academic and professional journeys, we hope you carry with you the skills, experiences, and memories from your time with us. We are confident that you will achieve great things and make significant contributions to your future endeavors.