Having come straight out of university amidst a global pandemic, finding opportunities for hands-on work experience has been thin on the ground, and it’s been forecast to stay that way. One report from the Institute of Student Employers shows that 27% of employers will recruit less graduates, 23% will recruit less apprentices and 31% will recruit less interns as a result of COVID-19.[1] These figures are devastating, considering that many young people will ultimately lose out on the opportunities to gain invaluable work experience and prepare for the vast, and quite frankly terrifying, world of work.
But this is where Bright Network have stepped in.
The graduate careers website have organised Internship Experience UK, a virtual internship open to anyone over 18, offering the chance to learn and develop skills needed for the workplace, all from the comfort of your own home. I registered for the Business, Operations and Marketing event, but they also provide training in areas including Investment Banking, Professional Services and Law, so there really is something for everyone. I initially found out about the experience through an ITV News article, and whilst I had no prior activities going on during lockdown, I figured why not try it out? It must be worth doing something to boost my CV, develop my skillset and help with my career plans until job opportunities start to pick up again in the outside world.
Sunday night
My initial thoughts before starting are generally positive; with corporate heavyweights such as Procter & Gamble, Google and GlaxoSmithKline investing in the programme, I hope to gain extremely valuable insight into a potential career field, as well as pick up tips and tricks for standing out in the saturated graduate jobs market. The programme encourages networking, which will be great for boosting my LinkedIn connections – as they say, it’s not what you know, but who you know. I’m slightly nervous on what to anticipate, as I don’t know how smart everyone else is compared to me, but it should be a good experience!
Monday – Day One
Today was a jam-packed day, starting bright and early at 9:30am (honestly too early for me but oh well!). I was joined by 9,000 other interns from across the world, which is a CRAZY amount, but it was great for networking – my LinkedIn connections nearly doubled over the course of the day, and I even joined a WhatsApp group to connect with other like-minded interns and boost my networking skills.
The five seminars were given by representatives from Procter and Gamble, Marks and Spencer’s, Google, Enterprise and GlaxoSmithKline, covering different aspects of marketing within the workplace in an engaging, insightful way, alongside giving tips and tricks to help land graduate positions at some of the world’s top firms. Bright Network led two of its own seminars, my favourite of the day was led by American networking expert J. Kelly Hoey, whose enthusiasm was particularly engaging and motivational when talking about building an effective network for your professional life.
However, as today was very seminar heavy, I had lost my concentration by the time 5pm rolled around, and the numerous mugs of coffee were beginning to take their toll. Even though I managed to take lots of notes, I’m glad that there will be less seminars tomorrow and more focus on our work samples, which I’m looking forward to getting stuck into!
Tuesday – Day Two
Today, we were given our work sample, based around the car rental company Enterprise. We had to create a marketing plan for expanding Enterprise’s fleet into a new UK city, including a competitive analysis of three cities, explaining our final city of choice, then identifying suitable marketing strategies and budget allocations to allow a successful launch.
I really enjoyed doing this task; at first I thought it was going to be hard, having had very little marketing experience, but actually, it was fairly do-able. We were given a lot of guidance on what to include, and the analytical, critical thinking and research skills developed from my degree were easily applicable. I was really happy with the outcome I had produced!
As we were given the whole day to work on our sample, there was only one seminar about teamwork in the afternoon, but Bright Network continued to offer extensive support all day, including Alumni office hours for interns to chat to recruits from all participating companies, and help desks to make sure everyone was given the appropriate help that they needed.
Wednesday – Day Three
Today’s the last day of the internship! The main focus was to share our work samples with other interns on a 1:1 basis, with peer marking and useful feedback to wind down the internship and celebrate our accomplishments over the last three days. The last skills seminar offered unique tips and tricks for CVs to ensure we would stand out from the crowd, and CEO James Uffindel joined us for one last little motivational message at 2pm, rounding off the whole experience on a high.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the internship, and I’m so glad I signed up! My favourite part was creating my work sample, which surprised me as I thought it was going to be an activity I would hate! The work was a lot easier than expected, and I loved how we were given lots of free time to complete it to the best of our ability.
All of the seminars had aspects that were super helpful, engaging and unique compared to other careers talks I’ve had in the past, which is so refreshing as many cover the same things. I also loved how so many interns were willing to put out their LinkedIn profiles, create group chats and share their notes to help others, which shows how effective the event’s connectivity aspect was. My LinkedIn connections have skyrocketed since promoting my profile, so it’s great to see people wanting to connect with you and support your career!
I would definitely recommend Internship Experience UK to any student or graduate that wants to find out what a virtual internship is like, especially when many workplaces will be geared towards going online after COVID-19. Also, having had little marketing experience at university, this internship has given me some basics skills towards a potential career in the field, which is a big LinkedIn and CV booster!
Thanks for reading, see you in the next one!
Fiona xx
[1] ‘COVID-19: Challenges for Student Recruitment’, Institute for Student Employers (25th March 2020), https://ise.org.uk/page/blog-covid-19-challenges-for-student-recruitment, date accessed 08/07/2020.
Fi.Gee 