Like most uni graduates I found it hard to get my foot in
the door of the type of work that interested me. I’d already been graduated for
nearly a year before I even got any work experience in marketing, the subject
I’d dedicated myself to and studied for three tough years.
I found myself wondering that familiar question; why is it
that nobody seems to want to employ you without any relevant work experience,
yet in order to get this work experience you need someone to employ you? One of
my friends had previously secured an internship through the UEA Graduate
Internship Programme and ended up with a full time job out of it. I thought if
it had worked for him then it could work for me too, so I thought I’d give it a
shot!
I got started straight away and applied for a couple of marketing
internships that interested me. On the first attempt I just seemed to miss out,
although I was offered an interview with the company which went really well, I
didn’t get the place this time. I also missed out on a second internship at a
marketing agency but I applied
for my third internship, and this time I got the place!
My internship was at
Palmers
Department Store. I’ll admit the distance I had to travel to get to work
each day was a little off-putting at first but it turned out to be well worth
the commute. It gave me the opportunity to undertake a lot of the marketing
skills I’d learnt at uni and this time it felt like a bonus because I was
getting paid for it too! My main responsibility was uploading new products to
the company’s website via their Content Management System. I was able to get
creative and write descriptions for each product as well as create and resize
pictures for these products using Photoshop and promote them using various types
of social media.
I felt like I was learning more and more as time went on. I
began to use new marketing techniques, such as email marketing, which I’d
previously learnt about but not had the chance to put into practice. I was also
given more responsibility and trusted with writing blogs, creating content for
the website’s homepage and carrying out customer related tasks such as answering
calls, ensuring orders were on track and emailing people directly with any
relevant information.
The atmosphere throughout the internship was friendly and
welcoming which helped me feel like a valued member of the team. It’s nice to
be at work and not find yourself clock watching in the hope the working day is
soon going to come to an end! Part way through my internship I was delighted to
be offered the job full time which I quickly accepted. Since then I’ve
continued a similar job role and I’ve recently written a newsletter which was sent
out to about 8000 customers, which just goes to show I’m still learning new
skills even after the internship has finished.
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