Sociology student Holly Dean completed her Events Management internship with Active Lancashire last year. Here she reflects on her time there and how it has enabled her to develop her experience and skills ready for the world of work.
We are currently advertising two more FASS internships with Active Lancashire. For more details of these exciting opportunities please see the links here and here. The closing date for applications is 30th May.
Holly Dean:
In the 2019 summer break, I applied for a placement with Active Lancashire that I discovered through the Employment and Recruitment Service hosted by FASS placements. The placement was for an Event Management position specifically designed to support the Lancashire Sports Awards 2019.
The interview process consisted of a four-panel interview- including two representatives of the FASS placement scheme. Prior to the interview when receiving the offer, FASS offered the opportunity to have a trial interview if I felt like I needed the preparation. They also offered support throughout the time I was under the placement by checking in over email and making it clear that they were there if I was to have any problems or needed support, which luckily I didn’t as Active Lancashire were there to support me throughout.
I was able to complete this placement alongside my third year at Lancaster and was offered flexible working days across the year to ensure that the placement fitted in with my timetable. I found this also enabled me to easily apply knowledge I was learning while on the placement to my university work and vice versa.
I had never had any marketing experience and very little event management experience, so while I was very excited to start, I was also worried that I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with what I would be asked to do. However, this was not the case, the team at Active Lancashire always took time to teach me and help me learn the basics and develop my skills.
The placement focused on the Lancashire Sports Awards – The event saw 84 nominees and 350 guests in attendance. This was the 18th year of the sports awards, they are dedicated to rewarding and celebrating those across the Lancashire county who have gone the extra mile in their dedicated sport. I got the opportunity to undertake different tasks from press releases, creating content via Adobe programs and planning social media content. I assisted the team in preparing for the Lancashire Sports Awards, I also worked on the day helping with last minute changes needed for the event and on the evening. I particularly focused on keeping the social media active to update followers on how the event was going and who was winning specific awards.
The initial placement was from August until December, however, Active Lancashire extended it to July which allowed me to expand my skill set more through focusing on their general social media and marketing outside of the Lancashire Sports Awards. Once again, they were flexible, so I was able to pick what days to work in line with my university timetable. I mainly focused on creating content that linked with national campaigns as well as promoting campaigns and initiatives that were directly linked to Active Lancashire and the work they do. I also helped with coordinating promotional videos for the company such as the corporate video and the #ALittlebitmoreathome Recognition Awards video which helped me gain more insight into how concepts are delivered and executed and enabled me to learn how to coordinate and communicate with external people, including an AV company.
When lockdown began it meant that my university teaching and exams had come to an end therefore Active Lancashire offered me a full-time contract until the end of August as a Marketing Campaign Assistant. In this role I focused on supporting a new social media campaign as well as continuing to support the Marketing and Communications team in any other jobs that needed doing.
My work predominantly focused on producing social media content for the #ALittlebitmoreathome campaign and helping to organise the #ALittlebitmoreathome Recognition Awards. Through working full time during lockdown it allowed me to use my time constructively to learn and practise skills that are essential for jobs within media and marketing. As I was part of an in-house marketing team it allowed me to take on different roles and participate in various tasks from designing graphics, planning social media and writing press releases. Working during COVID enabled me to adapt to independent working as well as tailoring new social media content to be more mindful and acknowledging of the situation unfolding.
The placement finished at the end of August fitting in with my preparation for my Masters degree at Lancaster. Overall, this placement has been highly beneficial with building my experience up in the fields of work I am interested in. It has helped offer me more direction in knowing what I want to do after University and has offered me the opportunity to put theory I’ve learned into practice. By applying for this job, it has given me skills for an industry I was struggling to find job experience for while giving me the flexibility with my university studies.