Emily Siddall: Intern at the Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences 2016
Emily undertook an internship with the Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster University, assisting the FASS Placements Officer. This blog gives an overview of her reflection on her experience after completing the FASS Placement Scheme.
After being invited to interview, and being the successful candidate to the FASS Placement Scheme Assistant role, I was over the moon. It was the first time I had attended an interview for a role since starting University, and was the first internship I had applied for, so it was definitely a shock to be accepted onto the role.
Before starting my internship, I had always heard the stereotype of internships being a good way to learn how to make sublime cup of tea, with the occasional bit of printing to do if you were lucky. After completing my internship, I can’t stress enough just how wrong this stereotype was, just not in my case but for the other students I engaged with during my internship also undertaking internships on the FASS Placement Scheme.
My role consisted of many interesting tasks and activities, with no day really being the same. As the FASS Placement Scheme Assistant, my role primarily focused on helping orchestrate the FASS Placement Scheme itself for students who wished to apply for summer internships. During the start of my internship in Late April/Early May, I started to help assist with the scheduling of interviews, attending careers events to promote the scheme, and suggesting and creating a LinkedIn page for the scheme, so students could post blog entries about their time on the scheme as a reflective exercise and as a CV boosting activity too! I was shocked to find I had a lot of responsibility and have my opinion valued and acted upon. This really allowed me to learn and develop a lot of new skills, such as effective communication, how to engage with different audiences and how to liaise correctly with staff and external organisations.
Towards the middle of my internship, I started to host interviews for other students who were wishing to gain a placement on the scheme, which consisted of meeting and greeting the interviewers, escorting them to their room, and then welcoming students about to go to interview. A lot of preparation goes into the interview process, such as liaising with external organisations and students, ensuring that everyone can attend their time slot, setting up catering and interview packs for interview panelists, setting up Skype for london-based interviews, and more. After a short while, my boss soon let me handle these interview days alone. I found this part of the internship incredibly rewarding, especially feeling trusted with a lot of responsibility and being able to handle any issues that arose throughout the interview days.
Once all the students on the scheme were placed, this is where I was allowed to develop some of the ideas for the scheme I had proposed during the interview and the first few weeks of my placement. One of which was the LinkedIn blog, in order to make the scheme as rewarding as possible for students, by providing a CV boosting activity, whilst allowing students to link with their host organisations and develop their own LinkedIn profile which would be beneficial to them in the future. It would also provide benefit for students wishing to apply to the scheme in the next year, so they understood what to expect. I also was able to develop a document that laid of the skeleton for the scheme next year, with key documents updated and refined, along with being able to add in my feedback from a student perspective about what was good and what could be improved. In the final stages of my placement, I also completed a competitor analysis report on student internships at our rival institutions, and what can be done to improve our placement opportunities as well as how to advertise such opportunities more effectively.
This part of the internship I found particularly interesting, as it allowed me to see just how much organisation goes into the FASS Placement Scheme, and other schemes like it. I also allowed me to develop report writing skills, networking skills, and develop lots of new contacts with employers. I can’t stress enough just how valued I felt as part of the FASS Placement Team, and that my opinion and feedback as a student was something taken very seriously. I also felt like I was given numerous opportunities to develop my own skills, and was regularly asked if there were any tasks I was particularly interested in undertaking, to ensure I got the most from my internship.
This year (2017), I have been lucky enough to be invited back into my role as FASS Placement Scheme Assistant, and this year I have seen many of my ideas being put into action, which has been incredibly rewarding. I’ve also been able to assist Rachel, who I intern for, with lots of new upcoming ideas for the scheme, such as the setting up of a placement scheme Facebook page, a WordPress blog, and much more. I’ve also been able to attend a careers event promoting the scheme, building my presentation and public speaking skills. The scheme has also given me experience of working in an office environment, the opportunity to develop new contacts, and has enabled me to feel like a valued member of the team working on bringing more placement opportunities to students. I hope to learn much more this year, and I am very glad to have been given the opportunity to undertake this internship opportunity once again.
I hope this has given you all some insight into my experience on the FASS Placement Scheme, and if any of you have any questions about the scheme, or my experience of an internship, please feel free to comment below.
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