Technical Writing Internship Experience 1.B: Writing and Publishing Books and Training Courses

PromoterMotor™ applies and shares diverse knowledge from many disciplines: we serve diverse non-profits and for-impact for-profits with strategic and tactical marketing that bolsters growth, awareness, attracting support, and sales. Our internships are arranged into departments of collaborating skill-areas that enable various related majors, minors, and concentrations to focus on education-relevant training projects relevant to our internal operations and/or our client activities. PromoterMotor’s scalable, AI-assisted services maximize public attention, donations, and interactions, ensuring outstanding service for organizations across the United States. You will learn from how we arise to provide first-class consulting, training, and combined prospecting and appointment setting that ensures quality for our clients and teammates.

At PromoterMotor, you benefit good organizations while gaining practical experience through real-world applications. Educated, highly trained members, up to and including the CEO, will directly guide you. We have trained over 300 interns through business, digital design, human resources, marketing, software engineering, and technical writing teams. We provide project-based, hands-on learning experiences, valuable mentorship, and inclusive collaboration. Join us to make a difference! 

• Rolling Start and End Dates All Year apply today after reading this posting completely: we take applications from over 1,200 colleges and accommodate all of their schedules by enabling selected interns to start at almost any week of the year. Ignore the start date in Handshake; its software does not allow date ranges, but we do!
• 100% Remote Participate-from-Anywhere Position
• Full-time and Part-time flexible participation within and across semesters and breaks is allowed
• Unpaid Internship for with syllabus-based training, plus
• Project-based Learning where you can request options that extend your training well beyond what you started to learn in college
• Personal Growth and Ongoing Career Achievements, including resume building, structured internship programs and supervision, networking opportunities, future careers at PromoterMotor, and developing skills required by top companies and prestigious graduate schools
• Possible Academic Credit: check with your college about credit (some colleges require it for internships; for others, it is optional) and visa requirements before applying
• Possible second internship to gain wider training and skills within the same or different department after good performance in your first internship with us

Project-based Learning: ​​This team creates and improves training for people that are just beginning to enter a professional career. The projects will center on writing and expanding a book and supporting materials that we had so far given the temporary title of "Timeless Principles for the Workplace", followed by books for new managers, digital media professionals, and more. Our goal with the book is to provide the kind of everyday advice that is almost too common and subtle for the professors to have taught them in typical classes in any department. It is about the kinds of things that employers expect you to know but that aren't part of classes, aren't part of common knowledge, and aren't even taught by employers, not even by ones that have handbooks and training for their employees. For example, handbooks teach employees about the law in company policies but not about soft skills or how to get ahead in the eyes of their supervisors. So, this teams' projects will be about expanding this book and developing supplemental resources possible including, but not limited to, training software and podcasts. This internship is cross-listed with the Human Resources 1.B internship.  Your training experience will be aligned with the activities of the company during the time of your internship, so while overarching training and responsibilities will be similar to what is described here, the projects and details of the experience will evolve over time.

 

Training and Responsibilities May Include But Will Not Be Limited To

• Gain familiarity with developing and arranging sections of a book that will be printed for new graduates 
• Facilitate Rule of Thumb meeting to test layouts and clarity for the target audience
• Select photographs, drawings, sketches, diagrams, and charts to illustrate material
• Participate in a 100% remote environment alongside peers across the globe
• Navigate diverse workplace with varying time zones and cultural backgrounds while maintaining an inclusive and supportive environment
• Build strong connections with other interns and staff people through networking, peer collaboration, and other weekly meetings while working remotely.
• Attend regular meetings to network and work alongside other teams and departments, preventing isolation and facilitating collaboration
  • This team will sometimes work with the digital media teams (regarding graphics), software engineering teams (regarding coding), marketing teams (regarding messaging), business teams (regarding sales leads), and human resources teams. 

Notes: Think of this internship as an opportunity to apply the skills you’ve gained in the classroom to real-world situations, not as an introduction to skills or an alternative to classes. Also, look for us to give you the kind of real-world business context and feedback that professors generally cannot provide, not only about your specific skill area but (perhaps more importantly!) feedback from perspectives outside of your major, such as how various other aspects of the business drive needs and decisions for your projects. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it indicates the many projects taking place. You might focus on some of these to the exclusion of others. Tasks and training will change according to business needs.

Example Relevant Majors but are not limited to: Marketing, Economics, Advertising, Public Communication, English, Non-Profit Management, Professional Writing, Statistics

Example Relevant Majors include but are not limited to: Technical Writing, Marketing, Economics, Advertising, Public Communication, English, Non-Profit Management, Professional Writing, Statistics, Product Management, Web Design, Web Management, Graphic Design

 

Quantitative Resume Accomplishments: After completing this internship, depending on the projects completed, here are the top accomplishments that you might be able to add to your resume:

• Facilitated multiple, biweekly Rule of Thumb meetings which included all PromoterMotor team members to test and improve the efficiency and influence of the book
• Enriched and organized content that will be published in a book, which will act as a guide helping hundreds of new graduates get acquainted with workforce ethics and etiquette 

Qualitative Resume Accomplishments: After completing this internship, depending on the projects completed, here are the top accomplishments that you might be able to add to your resume:

• Gained tremendous hands-on experience while researching and listening to real-world situations and examples
• Participated in and expanded the training procedures that will benefit future interns
• Presented the status and progress of ongoing projects in weekly meetings with supervisors and colleagues for evaluation 
  
   

Learning Objectives:

• Technical Writing: Organize material and complete writing assignment according to set standards regarding order, clarity, conciseness, style, and terminology
• Presentation and Public Speaking: Deliver effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences
• Active Listening: Give full attention to what other people are saying, take time to understand the points being made, ask questions as appropriate
• Critical Thinking:  Use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems
• Reading and Writing Comprehension: Develop excellent oral and written communication skills in professional documents, especially with creating and improving templates and spreadsheets
• Time Management, Organization and Coordination: Focus on different tasks and use time, energy, strength, mental capacity, physical space, etc. effectively and efficiently to achieve the desired outcome
• Service Orientation: Deepen knowledge of the nonprofit consulting sector
• Telecommuting: Participate remotely in both a team and individually

Technology Learning Areas: Please review these tutorials before beginning an internship with us.

• Google Suite, especially spreadsheets (Google Sheets) and documents that can be edited collaboratively, such as support.google.com/a/users/answer/9282959 up to and including the Level 3 -- Advanced section
• Google Meet video conferencing software, such as cloudskillsboost.google/course_templates/198
• Meeting recording software, such as obsproject.com/wiki
• Systems for Continual Process Improvement, see also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continual_improvement_process

About PromoterMotor.com 

PromoterMotor is an Advertising Agency and a Division of Bashpole Software, Inc.
 

Our Mission: For-impact companies use our services to benefit the world: PromoterMotor helps nonprofits and for-profits gain online visibility and automate marketing functions. We help for-impact organizations get and make maximal use of free advertising from Google and communicate through social platforms. PromoterMotor is a for-profit company that makes a difference.

Emerging Growth Company: PromoterMotor by Bashpole Software, Inc. has a close yet professional environment with fewer than 10 team members plus many bright interns; our growth in clients and staff is accelerating, making this an exciting time to get involved. Check out our internship and contractor positions and testimonials from departments such as Marketing, Digital Media, Business, Software Engineering, Technical Writing, and Human Resources: https://promotermotor.com/careers/

About Our Internships 

Apply to One Position, Maximum: Do not apply for more than one internship position at a time. Apply to the one that interests you the most. Then, if you are invited for an interview, you may indicate interest in other positions at that time, and we can discuss which position would be best suited for you.

 

Minimum Education and Experience: Applicants must be enrolled in a college or graduate program at the beginning of their internship. Previous internship experience is beneficial but optional. You must have completed some classes relevant to your internship prior to beginning and must show examples of what you know during your interview. The purpose of the internship is to provide training and experience that goes beyond classroom education. Therefore, we rely on each intern (you) to have mastered classroom-level fundamentals related to the internship prior to beginning it, so that you can participate with high-level instructions, minimal direction, and feedback from our professionals and your peers on a weekly basis as a way to learn and grow. We also expect you to fully follow the training materials provided by your syllabus, including taking self-directed learning where specified. 

Professionalism Expectations: Internships are unlike the classroom and operate differently than what students do in school. Our internships are meant to challenge you, not to introduce you to a subject for the first time or to tell you exactly how to do everything from the ground up, but also do not expect you to know everything a seasoned professional will. We offer a hands-on experience where interns are empowered to take initiative, problem-solve, use resources, creativity, and personal judgment. After receiving instructions, we expect interns to find their own solutions to problems in collaboration with their peers. We also expect interns to speak up throughout an internship. We work closely with organizations whose mission is to speak and act in ways that take courage for the greater good and value members of our team who can do the same. You will receive individual guidance and feedback from our professionals including occasional meetings with the CEO. You’ll take on roles consistent with the internship but refined to align with current company projects as you collaborate within and across teams in accordance with the amount of initiative you demonstrate. You should be excited to learn new things and be able to take criticism. Our internships are meant to bridge the classroom to the workplace and are designed for those seeking the knowledge-level in between.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why Us? Gain real professional training with one or more internship experiences at PromoterMotor. Apply your creativity and drive for project-focused, hands-on learning experiences. In every internship with us, you’ll receive individual guidance and feedback to help you on your path to a professional career. You can participate in our training as an intern or a volunteer, using your time to make a difference. We are all linked, so help us help nonprofits help the world.

Why Participate Remotely? We are creating the workplace of the future. It is akin to what the CEO of the multi-billion dollar company Automattic calls Level 5. As a 100% remote company for many years, we have developed remote internship processes that prioritize and achieve freedom, socialization, organization, and personal wellness. See below about networking and meetings.

What can we offer you? 

1. Real, Hands-on Experience: Rather than the coffee-fetching of a typical internship or the textbook learning of a classroom setting, we provide interns with hands-on experience with real projects. Each intern will have a main project along the lines of the title of the internship position to which they were accepted, plus several side projects, which together create diverse learning experiences. Moreover, your training and participation in our research and development can help nonprofits worldwide connect with donors, volunteers, constituents, and more.
2. Make a Difference: By participating here, you can help a variety of organizations help the world on a larger scale than volunteering for any one nonprofit. Join us in pursuing truth, knowledge, and how best to help the world make itself a better place. We are developing a first-of-its-kind system to help non-profits and for-profits gain the publicity that is currently more desperately needed than ever.
3. Teamwork and Mentorship: PromoterMotor enables you to work in small teams of typically 1 to 5 interns. You’ll meet regularly with fellow interns on your team. You’ll also meet weekly as a team to gain direct supervision and mentorship from the company’s CEO, senior staff members, and/or more seasoned interns.
4. Network with Peers, Mentors, and More: PromoterMotor creates networking opportunities by helping you learn how to communicate effectively with executives. This skill will allow you to build lasting impressions and have direct interactions with staff members and fellow interns around the United States and the world. Interns often report connecting with more people in our remote internships than in physical classrooms of comparable size because of how we encourage and facilitate networking meetings.
5. Company Culture: PromoterMotor believes it’s crucial for interns to feel comfortable speaking up for what they believe in. We value suggestions for improvements on all aspects of our company and voicing opinions about projects in team settings. Additionally, we seek interns who can pursue the career growth they want and the courage to request the kind of work they want to do. PromoterMotor looks for intellectually honest individuals with a spirit of independence and interdependence.
6. Workplace Readiness Training: Employers expect students to understand communication soft skills and corporate culture; however, colleges offer few opportunities for students to learn day-to-day workplace fundamentals for behavior. As a result, we’ve developed something unique: our Rules-of-Thumb (RoT’s) training process. The RoTs are the otherwise unwritten rules of professional etiquette based on hard-learned experiences of industry professionals. We’re developing a book and a training system for explicitly teaching this kind of advice to our employees, interns, and eventually to others, which will be valuable for their future careers.
7. Portfolio: With approval from management, this internship also offers opportunities to add examples to your professional portfolio, which you can later use for future job applications.
8. Letter of Recommendation: If you successfully complete one or more internships, we will sign compelling letters of recommendation for you. Previous interns have used these letters to enter our nation’s top graduate programs and excellent post-graduation careers. We can also serve as a reference for various applications you may pursue.
9. Leadership Opportunities: In addition to encouraging each intern to demonstrate personal leadership within their team of fellow interns, PromoterMotor also has “Level 3: Management” internships in every department that people can apply to as long as they have participated in at least one prior internship with us. This advanced position gives smart, responsible interns training and practice for leading teams of other interns while under the supervision of a PromoterMotor supervisor.
10. Academic Credit: If you want work-study or school credit for the internship, we can almost always provide the kind of oversight your university would require. Some educational institutions require prior approval before the start of an internship. It is your responsibility to check with your institution to be sure you meet all requirements for participation before you interview with us. We do NOT require you to enroll in a class or get credit for your internship; some universities do require this of you, others make it optional, and still others do not allow credit.

What does a typical day look like? There is no typical day, but there is a typical week. 

What does a typical week look like?

• You will work either collaboratively in a team or independently on a project of your choice from a list that we will provide.
• Every week, you will use your “Personal Syllabus” to complete weekly tasks and log your process.
• In weekly team meetings, you will be guided by Bashpole team members who have years of experience and will act as your supervisor. You may ask questions about department supervisors during your interview. In weekly team meetings, you’ll show your syllabus log to your team via a screenshare and show, get feedback on, and take notes for the next steps with your project.
• In addition, you'll have intern-only meetings throughout the week to collaborate with your peers, review each other's work, and answer each other's questions.
• Every other week, we will have an “All Hands and Rule of Thumb (RoT) Meeting” where all interns will work collaboratively on the Rule of Thumb (RoT) book. The book contains our advice about corporate culture and communications soft skills: these are mostly from lessons we learned the 'hard way' in the workplace, things that no one taught us in college classes but that most employers expect you to know.

What are the schedule expectations for this internship? 

• We have team and individual meetings every week via Google Meet. We expect you to be generally available for meetings during US Eastern time business hours.
• Aside from scheduled meetings, you will have your choice for daily start and stop times; you can create a routine that works for you as long as you prioritize your internship.
• For internships taken during the fall or spring, participate part-time. For internships during the summer, participate full-time. Internships can be a mix of part- and full-time.
• Manage your schedule well to fulfill the weekly internship time you agree to.
• Internship start and end dates are flexible according to your university’s calendar for classes.

What is the expected time commitment? 

• We offer both part and full-time internships with rolling start dates (starting whichever week of the year works best for you) and can generally work around your class schedule, as long as you commit to a routine
• You can switch from full-time to part-time, or vice versa, as long as the duration adds up to a total of at least 400 hours, with 480 hours preferred.
• If full-time: strongly preferred in summer and available throughout the year, 40 hours/week (or whatever is the maximum your college allows) lasts for about 3 months.
• If part-time: during school sessions, 12-20 hours/week (or whatever is the maximum your college allows) for about 6 months. 

When may I get started? If PromoterMotor makes you an internship offer, you may start either as soon as you like or later in the year when your schedule permits: we have an orientation/onboarding meeting almost every Thursday for new interns.

When will I start a project? Your first week will consist of onboarding and getting familiar with the environment of the internship, including the team and company resources. After about 1-2 weeks, projects are assigned to you during the weekly team check-in meetings. These weekly sessions allow you to meet with your team to discuss plans, tasks, and feedback.

Who is more likely to succeed in this internship position? People with:

• a genuine interest in the nonprofit consulting sector 
• classroom experience relevant to this position
• proactive mindsets that like their voices to be heard
• detailed note-taking habits
• time management skills who are organized and dependable 
• an eagerness to take initiative with their ideas and communicate early and often
  
   

How does the interview process work? First, suppose an applicant meets our preliminary qualifications. In that case, we send them a message via Handshake with detailed instructions for setting up an interview that must be followed precisely; otherwise, we will decline the interview. Generally, each applicant has at least one interview during which their aptitude and knowledge are evaluated. If this goes well, the applicant will be given a follow-up task to examine how much they understand about our company and their position. Then, PromoterMotor may send a decision on an internship offer within a few business days.

If I apply, what are the odds I’ll be accepted? PromoterMotor posts its internship positions to nearly 1,200 colleges across the USA and receives hundreds of applications for each position for each season of the year. We generally select between 1 and 5 people per position per season (Winter/Spring, Summer, or Fall/Winter). Although our interviews are friendly and conversational, there are many factors that we carefully consider before, during, and after each interview. If you are selected for an interview, there is no guarantee that you will be given an offer. Upon selection for an interview, we will send you a message with everything you need to do to prepare for your interview, and you will be expected to follow all of the instructions thoroughly. It would be best if you took some time to prepare for your interview. 

Can I participate in more than one position? Not simultaneously; you may only participate in one position at a time. However, we welcome and encourage sequential internships, meaning participating in one team at one time and then another team at another time. 

How will I be supervised, and who will be my supervisor? Each team will report directly to their department manager (who will be your supervisor) every week by screen-sharing a log about their training and accomplishments. (See also “What does a typical week look like?” above.) Your manager may be assisted by other team members and sometimes by interns who are more senior than you, so treat them all as sources of authority. If you ever have concerns about your peers or supervisors, you can contact people at any level of the organization. We prefer that everyone communicate early and often about their concerns and accomplishments!

How often will I work with supervisors compared to other interns? This varies from position to position and changes from the beginning to the end of a typical internship; however, generally, you will meet with your supervisor for at least one, if not several, hours a week. You will meet with fellow interns for at least a few hours a week, if not up to about half of the time per week that you spend on your internship. You will work on your own projects and training the rest of the time. If you want to spend more (or less) time working directly with others, let your supervisor know; they can sometimes make adjustments. We encourage you to collaborate with others as often as possible.

What are the challenges to expect? Interns grow by dealing with and working through such challenges; this is how the real world works. This internship will take hard work and sometimes will be an imperfect experiment in training. There may be occasional communication at odd hours due to time differences and urgent matters. There will be more intern-intern interaction than with supervisors, and you can expect a mix of training from supervisors and finding and developing training yourself. Tasks may sometimes be vague and unclear, as some assignments will be new. Real people run our organization — and while we are not perfect — we intend to work hard and be the best we can be. We look for interns who have the humility to admit the same about themselves.

 

What have previous interns said? Check out testimonials from our previous interns on our Careers page: https://promotermotor.com/careers/

There are no costs of any sort to participate in our internships, ever. Our internship is like a class that you get to take for free. Yet, even though our internships provide substantial experiential learning, we recognize that personal financial situations are sometimes an obstacle. If this concerns you, check with your career services center and academic advisers about whether your college offers any form of support that helps students take unpaid internships. Some colleges have scholarships, grants, stipends, or options for gaining class credit; some do not; either way, there are never fees nor expenses of any kind related to our internships, and you should be wary of any company that would try to charge you for anything for an internship.

Why is it an unpaid internship? PromoterMotor is a for-profit company that’s rebranding itself, which explains the start-up-like environment. Due to these circumstances, we currently don’t provide compensation. In lieu of payment, we provide interns with rich learning experiences such as receiving mentorship, the responsibility to create training, strong recommendation letters based on performance, and the opportunity to graduate with advanced management-based experiences. We are also newly offering a monetary bonus program that all our team members at PromoterMotor are aware of and eligible for. PromoterMotor dba Bashpole Software, Inc. complies with all US Department of Labor Federal Internship Guidelines per https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm. This position also complies with NACE Criteria for internships per http://www.naceweb.org/about-us/advocacy/position-statements/position-statement-us-internships/#sthash.WbfvUjco.dpuf.

What if I’m an international student? International students are encouraged to apply for any and all internships. Show your university this internship description and check with them about their requirements. If selected, confirm everything is approved through your university before beginning an internship. PromoterMotor will provide documentation for the university in the form of an internship offer agreement. 

Non-Discrimination Policy: All nonprofits we serve are required to be compliant with Google’s non-discrimination policies, meaning that PromoterMotor works with a diverse set of nonprofits, such as nonprofits working with crime to mental health issues to combating misinformation. Thus, PromoterMotor interns are expected to be non-discriminatory themselves and help us serve any nonprofit that fits the eligibility guidelines. See more at https://promotermotor.com/careers/.

Due to the volume of applicants, there can sometimes be a backlog that causes delays in our responses or no interview time openings for days to weeks, so read our several internship descriptions thoroughly, decide which if just one position fits you really well, and apply for that one. Please apply for only 1 position at a time, even if you are interested in several, and you can apply at any time of year. Applicants must be at least a college freshman before applying and be enrolled or planning to continue to enroll as an undergraduate or graduate student to be eligible to participate in our internships, not graduated permanently. If you are invited to interview, we prefer you schedule a time with us about halfway between now and when you might want to begin an internship. You may send us a message with your questions at any time. Please do not schedule interviews or informational meetings with us via “Meet Us” calendar links on the PromoterMotor website; those are for our prospective clients. Instead, carefully follow the instructions herein. See http://promotermotor.com/careers/

Please apply to our positions via Handshake, not email, if possible. See also below. Initially, you don't need to submit your resume or unofficial transcript via Handshake. If we decide to take the next steps in the application process, we will ask you to supply those materials then. We prefer to have these materials sent via email to confirm that method of communication between you and our team.

When applying on Handshake, ensure your GPA is visible to employers. GPA is one of the many factors we consider when screening candidates and reviewing applications. We encourage you to show your GPA on Handshake so that employers who consider a student’s GPA will review your application.

If you seek credit or are on a visa, check with your school's Internship Coordinator before interviewing to determine if this position satisfies the criteria. Many of our past interns have received credit through many universities, but you must check with yours individually. We do not require you to pursue credit nor do we guarantee that you’ll receive it; however, we have always successfully assisted those who have sought it in conjunction with internships with us.

To Apply: You must be a student for the duration of your internship and must not have permanently graduated. Interns – whether interested in one or multiple internships – will require only a single, one-hour first interview. If you meet these criteria, then 1) if you have access to Handshake, follow the instructions there. Doing so is part of the interview process and test. Or 2) if not, email hr2@PromoterMotor.com with a note that you do not have access to Handshake, a polite self-introduction message, the full name of the position that interests you the most (copy/paste the name from the title of the page for that position), and your majors, minors, graduation date, cumulative GPA, and how you found this position. You will not be offered an interview if you do not include all of the requested information.

We look forward to reviewing your application!