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How to get marketing experience without an internship starts with volunteering your skills to a nonprofit or small business that has no idea how to run its own social media, then walking into your next interview with a real story instead of a resume gap. That's what Matty May does with students, and honestly it's the playbook she built from over 30 years of seeing who makes it.
Matty May is VP of Convergent Ad Sales at Paramount, a Michigan State advertising grad, and a certified leadership coach who spends a lot of her time pouring into students. I wanted to pick her brain on what separates the students who make it, especially since she sits on the MSU ComArtSci alumni board and sees the full picture.
How do you get marketing experience without an internship?
Matty's move is to volunteer or freelance your skills, especially if you know how to run social media. Find the nonprofits and small businesses where people in your network already volunteer, and offer to help. "I'd love to do your social media for a summer just to work on my portfolio," is the exact line she recommends.
Honestly, most of those places don't have a playbook for it and need the help. A lot of them raise money too, which means you walk away able to say you helped raise real dollars for a real account, and none of it had to happen at a big agency.
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Do you need an internship to get a marketing job?
According to Matty, that's not the case. "I don't think it matters if you get paid for it or not. It's just the experience that you can talk to," she told me.
Her bigger point is about where you end up, not just whether you end up somewhere. At a smaller organization, the CEO knows who you are, and you get asked to do things outside your original role a lot faster. You'll build your network faster at a big-name company, but you risk getting stuck in a single lane.
How do you network without it feeling transactional?
Matty networks everywhere, not just in scheduled coffee chats. Get your ask straight ahead of time: where you want to be, who you want to work for, what you want to do. Then ask one simple question. "Do you know anybody who works there in your network?"
People genuinely want to help, but they can't if you're vague. The other half is leading with a little value first. The second someone realizes you're trying to be a good person and not just farm a referral, they open up.
Which hard skill should young marketers learn now?
When I asked Matty for the number one hard skill for young marketers, she didn't hesitate. "I think it's coming up in all the conversations that I would not be surprised if it gets asked in many interviews. How are you using it? How would you teach our team how to do it?" AI, in other words.
She calls it reverse-mentorship. Young people are just closer to actually learning these tools than anyone else. This isn't something you need to figure out by tomorrow. Put in twenty or thirty minutes a day for three months, you're miles ahead.
Watch the full conversation
Watch the full episode for Matty's read on why the internship you didn't get isn't the whole story, what MSU's professors of professional practice actually teach, and her side hustle as a certified life coach: How To Build a Marketing Career Without a Marketing Internship.
Watch next: What 25 Recruiters Say Actually Gets You Hired In Marketing & Advertising
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