Our intern Lukas Lorenz is almost done with his internship and we thought that was a great time to chat with this jolly German about his time at Tomahawk. Have we been a little sweet on him? True to his initials, he explains, using the letter L, what makes an internship at Tomahawk fun!
Okay, Lukas can't really be called an average intern. He was already with us as a working student. How do you go from a side job to an internship? Lukas: "When I started studying Communication at HAN, I was looking for a side job. I thought it would be useful if I could do something where my mother tongue knowledge of the German language would come in handy, so I googled 'marketing Nijmegen-Germany'. That's how I ended up on Tomahawk's website." After some contact back and forth, Lukas joined us as a working student for one day a week. His studies required an internship, and why look any further if your side job met the criteria? And so it happened: Lukas evolved from working student to intern.
LINGUA FRANCA
We suddenly saw Lukas in the office a lot more often, and under the guidance of SEA Marketer Claudio, he got to work on his internship. "Claudio was a good internship supervisor. He gave me enough challenges, on the other hand he was always ready to help me. The human side is very important at Tomahawk, everyone should feel comfortable in the office. Claudio knew how to convey that well and he visibly enjoyed mentoring."
At Tomahawk in the office, Dutch is the lingua franca. Lukas: "In the beginning I had a bit of trouble with Dutch. A lot of the professional language was in Dutch, which taught me a lot. My Dutch improved very quickly and is now even better than my English. At the same time, I notice that at Tomahawk they really appreciate my contribution in the German language." Like Lukas, Claudio grew up with the German language. For mutual consultation and for consultation with customers that was ideal: "German is my mother tongue and fundamental knowledge of a language allows you to express yourself better, which is different when you learn it later on." In other words: where Duolingo stops, Lukas starts.
LeerzaMe experience
Lukas found his internship instructive: "As an intern you are always thrown into the deep end, everything is new. In the end you learn the most from that, especially to work independently. For example, I was allowed to join customer meetings and take on more executive tasks. Tomahawk saw that I was in place, therefore I was given more responsibilities because they knew I was capable enough. Suddenly I was at the controls for campaigns that involved substantial amounts of money. The confidence from Tomahawk made me feel confident."
Dearest colleagues
"What makes Tomahawk so special is that the employees here are quite diverse in their specializations, so everyone complements each other. The big advantage of this is that there is always someone there to help you if you don't know something yourself. Officially, as an intern you get one supervisor, in practice you work with the whole team. All colleagues have their own way of working, which means you can learn from all these different styles. They are all incredibly helpful."
LONG LIVE THE LOL
According to Lukas, what makes being an intern at Tomahawk so fun is the healthy mix of hard work and sociability. "When it comes to work, it's serious and we're all goal-oriented. This leaves us enough time and space to have fun together. You can see that in the atmosphere in the office: everyone gets along very well. " When we ask him what was the highlight of his internship, he mentions two, reflecting that mix well.
Lukas: "In terms of work, the highlight is the personal responsibility I was given in the area of customer communication. For a client meeting I was allowed to present a report in English, which I found very exciting. Claudio had said I didn't necessarily have to do it, but he knew I could do it. He was constantly ready to help me if needed. I made the presentation and I'm glad I got this opportunity."
Lukas began his time as an intern with the Tomahawk team outing, which worked out perfectly: "As a working student, I was only there one day a week. I noticed that new colleagues who joined later made connections with the whole team easier, because they were there several days a week. Fortunately, as an intern, I was in the office more often, which made me have more fun working together." The team outing was the icing on the cake: "We went bubble soccer, solve an escape room and paintball. I got to know everyone much better and really felt part of the team. It was a hugely varied day that allowed you to connect with everyone."
Luke's Wisdom
Lukas has sage advice for the future Tomahawk intern: "Be yourself. You shouldn't think you have to prove anything. You learn so much in such a short time, your self-confidence doesn't even keep up. Sometimes I got a question where I thought I didn't know the answer, I underestimated how good I had become at my job. It's such a shame that if you go along with that thinking: you can do it and everyone around you has seen that a long time ago!"
Longer at Tomahawk
Fortunately, we won't have to miss Lukas at Tomahawk: after his internship, he will return to his old position as a working student, this time with an extra dose of connection to his team. We look forward to those few hours a week when he's cozy with us. Whether it's his marketing skills, excellent knowledge of German or his talent for helping us get rid of leftover food: if it's up to us, Lukas is indispensable.
