Classroom comes to life for Old Bridge intern

PRINCETON – An internship at Creative Marketing Alliance (CMA), a full-service public relations and marketing firm based in Princeton Junction, is not about making coffee and sorting mail.

At CMA, interns become a valuable member of the team, working closely with and observing staff mentors to gain hands-on experience to take back to the classroom and into their chosen career paths.

For a College of New Jersey marketing major, Carly Choffo, interning at CMA helped her understand the many aspects of marketing.

“I never really saw marketing as a service,” said Choffo, who lives in Old Bridge. “I always saw it as part of a company. However, some companies really struggle with marketing and come to places like CMA for help. I never really considered how much I could be helping people if I actually ended up working at a marketing agency. It has made me like my major a lot more, seeing what marketing services can do for a company.”

CMA’s CEO and President, Jeffrey Barnhart, created the hands-on intern program when he founded the company in 1987. Since then, Barnhart’s team has selected more than 160 interns to participate in the program, giving back to area universities in Mercer County.

“That is the whole goal of our intern program — to have students immerse themselves in the business, absorb as much as they can and learn about their chosen profession,” Barnhart said. “We focus on developing synergy between the students and employees so both parties benefit. The intern program gives CMA employees in every department a chance to mentor someone who was probably just like them when they started their careers and they needed someone to look up to.”

CMA is currently seeking summer and fall semester interns. For more information, visit GoToCMA.com/careers.