Hi, I’m Caz, I have just graduated from University and now I am NixonMcInnes’ newest intern and will be here for about four weeks. I only started on Monday and I have been here all week, shadowing employees, contributing to various projects and learning lots of new things, which I thought I should document and share with you all…
I was extremely nervous as I entered the NixonMcInnes office in Brighton but, after the many friendly and enthusiastic team members welcomed me, I soon felt like part of the “family”.
After the first half the week, settling in and learning about mapping, I was invited to sit in on a meeting with the Social Media Council for one of NixonMcInnes clients, WWF. This was basically a meeting to discuss the possibilities of social media integration within their business. So, for example, Max and Jenni showed them some up and coming social media platforms like Stickybits and also talked about Foursqaure, and then we discussed how these can be used by WWF to aid things like the promotion of events.
I had been a bit shy at the meeting, despite Max’s “buzz word bell” and new warm-up game at the start (which involved some invisible samurai sword throwing and some very dodgy noises that made me wonder what people were thinking if they had heard us outside the room!).
On Thursday, I went to London with Louise who had a meeting with people from a big media company who are interested in having some social media training by NixonMcInnes. I learnt about strategy setting and proposal writing which I thought I’d like to do more of. We also met another client to discuss online engagement. It was interesting to see the contrasting ways each company wanted to use social media in order to achieve different results.
Later that day, we went to a PR and social media talk which was scary because I realised the extent to which social media can be used. For example, it included a presentation on, The Internet of Things, which basically said that one day everything we do will be controlled by AI.
I was picturing that day when it’s raining outside and I have just got in from work, a hot bubble bath would be running for me and dinner would be in the oven!
It was a very long but interesting day, involving a nice lunch at a really cool Italian restaurant in London whereby you order your food, they prepare it and you get to watch it being cooked in front of you. There was really weird stuff on the menu too, like strawberry and asparagus pasta, maybe next time!..
Overall, I have had a great week and met some lovely and interesting people. Now I’m just looking forward to what next week will bring…
4 Comments
How is this internship funded? do Caroline’s parents keep her while she does it? if so, how do poorer graduates access these opportunities? How are these opportunities for interesting work experience advertised and accessed?
In the interests of transparency, I think we should be told. Or, if it’s already there, this information should be very easy to find on the website.
Anna – the internship scheme is publicly communicated, and is funded and operated by organisations trying to do something positive – you can find out more here: http://www.sussexinternships.co.uk/About/
Hi Anna
I am the Manager for the Sussex Internship Programme. We are funded by HEFCE and SEEDA, the funding we receive allows us to pay the interns for the duration of their internship. This allows the internships to be non-exclusive and does not rely on the graduates to come from a family that has money to support them.
The scheme has been running for over 3 years now and is widely advertised at the Universities, online and in the local and national press, as well as sites such as Gumtree, Reed etc.
The scheme has successfully helped secure over 300 internships for recent graduates with 65% going on to be offered jobs with the companies they interned at.
I hope this clears up any confusion or concern that you have had regarding our programme, one that we are proud of for helping interns successfully take the 1st step of their career
If you do want to find out more please feel free to call me on 01273 692888 or visit the website
Thanks
Nick
Sounded like a productive week Caz. You can tell how overwhelmed you are by it all and your energy is palpable. Goodluck with the rest of your internship.