Left to Right: Ian McKee (CEO), Zulkarnain Sadali (SIP student)
I am the lucky few who got to secure my own internship company and I never regretted my decision. Working at Vocanic has given me flexibility, independence and trust with the people I work with, especially my boss, Ian.
Vocanic is a social media company that helps market companies and brands on Twitter and FaceBook. Yes, you read it right, Twitter and FaceBook. So not everything I do at work that's on these sites are for fun and games, they're actually what I do as work.
I got to know about Vocanic when I was an active member of their project, RippleVox. RippleVox works with brands to promote via word-of-mouth. I got a free Nokia handset for my participation a few years back. Through networking and contact with one of the employees of Vocanic, I managed to attain a spot working here.
The office is located at Duxton Road, where there's nothing but shophouses with offices and bars (quite a good mix, eh?) and the parking rates are $1 every 1/2 hour. Oh, and that's where I sit, second level, middle window. Nice view...Of a carpark. Currently we're expanding the office to the unit on the left and I get to do the layout of the office. Sweet.
My desk, just like the one at home, is a messy one. It keeps me sane. I sit right next to my boss, who is currently on a business trip in Indonesia, securing a deal.
Thing is, working at Vocanic is great. It's about trust and not so much about how on time you are. It is also about independence. Once given a task, they'll trust that you'll do your work by a specified time. When it comes to weekly meetings or group campaigns, the colleagues show a strong teamwork spirit and work well. And yes, everyone jokes. It's never dull working here.
I've been doing community management for StarHub since I got here and what I learnt was customer relations, hearing their woes and helping them dealt with issues. Other than that, I've also been redesigning FaceBook fanpages for City Square Mall, and CIMB (just to name a few).
Ian, my boss (who is also my supervisor for the internship) has given me two major projects for the company. One is to create a corporate video for Vocanic and the other is to redesign Phantom Model Management.
Sending out EDMs, interacting on FaceBook and Twitter, redesigning websites and brainstorming can take a toll on the employees here at Vocanic. Meeting after meeting, pitch after pitch, it gets pretty tiring after a long week.
Usually, on Fridays, the whole office goes to a little quaint bar a few steps away from the office for some drinks and popcorn. It's not much but it builds good teamwork ethic in the workplace.
Honestly, I'm happy working at Vocanic and I feel that I can offer more, so fingers crossed for an extension! The exposure here is far beyond what I expected. Usually, Ian sends the employees to the other offices in Asia. Here's hoping I get to go to visit their Malaysian office!
Advice to my little juniors and freshies, if you want to work with a company you've always had interest in, get to it early! Self-secured internships means you find a solution that fits you, and personally, for me, it worked out pretty well.
