Hile Design copywriting intern John Farris reflects on his experience:

My time has come. We all knew it was going to happen, but we tried to forget. And upon the final hour I eat bagel after bagel at my desk and contemplate how to sign off wittily before they come and take me away.

Well I guess I’ll actually be walking out, hopefully without an escort (sorry about the stapler, Dave), and hopefully with my dignity intact. I am sad to see my end here—it’s really a fun place to be. And I wasn’t kidding about the bagels; I’m eating them right now, a bit of a going-away treat.

It’s hard to get too upset about leaving when I think of how much better off I am since starting in February. I now have something more to say than “I watch TV” to a potential employer when he asks me about my experience with advertising. A while back I looked at my resume and thought about what skills I could add to it since working at Hile, and I was quite pleased. I owe it all to the people at Hile for taking a chance on me and seeing what I can do. Unfortunately, nothing I did was that impressive (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this), and I’m going to work minimum wage for the rest of my life. Just kidding—I’m excited to see what opportunities await me after the experience of working here.

I could go on and list the technical skills I’ve acquired, but that would be awfully boring. I’ll just keep it brief and simple and give the best advice I can think of for anyone in my position: Don’t be shy about approaching a company and relentlessly pursuing them until they submit to your requests. Well, not exactly, but bring some confidence to the table (especially when you don’t have much else to prove yourself with) and let them know how much you want to work with them. What have you got to lose anyway?

Editor’s note: John’s right. While we didn’t exactly “submit to [his] requests,” John’s polite perseverance—via emails, not phone calls—kept reminding us of his availability so that when we did need someone to help with a pro bono project, he was the one we thought of. Thanks, John, for all your hard work and witty writing—and when you’re famous, don’t forget your first advertising job!

I met Monica Getz, Hile Design’s copywriter, at a presentation she gave to my advertising class at the University of Michigan last semester. I was the sole English major floating in a sea of unenthusiastic communication and marketing drones with zero interest in the creative aspects of advertising copy. When she informed us that she was a copywriter (not a copyrighter, as my professor had previously told us) and a former English major at U of M, I perked up from the deflated late-afternoon nap I had grown accustomed to and experienced a spark of energy from the potential relevance the class now held for my life and future career.

A graduation ceremony combined with a two-month back-and-forth email correspondence finally got me an interview. I was brutally grilled in the darkened conference cave by the hotheaded Dave Hile and ice-cold Monica Getz about how I would contribute anything other than a waste of time to their company. Though I don’t really remember what actually happened due to blacking out from fear and stress (but appearing to remain conscious and functional—a skill I learned while dealing with project and term paper deadlines at U of M), it appears I somehow convinced them to keep me around.

Day one, while sitting at my (shared) desk as an (un)paid intern, Dave army-crawled from his office to my area and tied my shoelaces together. As I stood up to embark on finding the restroom (that no one would direct me to), I struck the ground fast and hard. In a daze, I saw Bob, Hile’s Director of Online Technology, approaching me. I met Bob last semester too, as he also came to speak to my class while plagued with swine flu and a sharp disdain for people in general that day. His presentation didn’t inspire the same (false) hope I left with after listening to and speaking with Monica. But I digress—getting back to Bob, I thought he was coming to help me up, perhaps in return for appreciation that I was the only person to ask questions during his “presentation.” He did show me where the bathroom was … but he dragged me there by my hair and then gave me a noogy, repeating something like a dark Gregorian chant with the words, “Welcome to Hile, now go make me some coffee.” I got back to my desk, and Art, Hile’s web programmer, came over to give me my new company email address, UMhotshotLoser@hiledesign.com. My computer also mysteriously crashed an hour later and has yet to recover. Art blames me.

(The above story is completely fictitious. But recently liberated from strict college paper guidelines, I took the suggestion of writing a blog post about my time here as far as I saw fit.)

So here’s the real story. My time here as an intern at Hile has been fantastic. Hile has given me a foot in the door to an industry that I didn’t really know how to approach, and I can’t thank them enough for going out on a limb and trusting my writing skills. Everyone in the office is friendly and willing to answer my potentially obvious and/or annoying questions, and even in my first week I have already gained valuable insight and portfolio work that I never could have received in school. I have never had a “real” job before, or rather, one that put my academic skills to use, and it’s exciting to be in an environment where I get to finally utilize them. I’m very much looking forward to future work and getting to know the company, and yes, maybe even eking out a minimum wage.