Category Archives: Geography

Graduate Researcher – University of Exeter

Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Health Care, Internship Schemes,

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Using NVivo software ( a qualitative data analysis tool) I analysed the NHS and Cornwall Council’s recent public, community network, and stakeholder survey data for the STP plan in Cornwall. I then produced reports and presented these back to the NHS who will use the results in their publications.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I taught myself how to use NVivo software, which was completely new to everyone in the department, and quite sophisticated. Originally I looked to go on a course to learn the software. However I decided to self-teach which was challenging but very rewarding.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I lightened the workload for both my managers. I also provided reports that the NHS will use to improve the NHS in Cornwall.

“Philippa made a highly significant contribution to my research project with the NHS” – Line Manager.

 

Economic Development Assistant – Devon County Council

Administration, Charity and Development Work, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP),

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My duties included dealing with business relocation and grant enquiries as well as managing the Business Promotion Grant. In addition, I monitored media, including social media, for local, regional and national news and analysis with inward investment focus. I also attended events with an inward investment/economic focus. I updated the company website by generating content, source news, and case studies. I supported both events and an apprenticeship campaign.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Gaining new skills, such as networking.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I lightened the workload for other colleagues by providing support.

 

Employability Project Support Officer – University of Exeter

Administration, Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My main role has been to improve the employability of graduates from the CLES department, through updating the DLHE database and making transferable skills clearer in modules. Within this, I organised a large employability meeting with colleagues from the Streatham campus, where ideas to improve employability in the department were discussed and a list of actions was created.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Sucessfully organising this large employability meeting, which helped me to gain valuable administration skills and experience.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I reduced the workload of my colleagues and was able to contribute my own ideas as a graduate on how the department can improve employability prospects for students.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I had to purchase a lot of resources for the meeting so I had to understand how the finance system worked and deal with budgets. This was easily overcome by asking more experienced colleagues in the office for help.

Alumni & Employability Administrator, University of Exeter

Administration, Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

university

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?My duties included:

  •  Engaging alumni in volunteering activities such as careers events and creating careers profiles.
  • Organising careers events including alumni careers panels, workshops, mock interviews; booking rooms, ordering catering, parking, promoting to students, etc.
  •  Updating the alumni database.
  •  Promoting careers events to students within our College.
  • Writing and compiling content for the SSIS Employability Newsletter.
  • Helping academics engage alumni in various activities/events.
  • Liaising with the alumni team and working with them on various events/projects when needed.
  • Helping student societies engage alumni & helping promote events where necessary.
  • Dealing with any general alumni enquiries.
  • Organising law mock interviews with alumni, making arrangements for the day, advertising to students etc.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I became a lot more confident in speaking to a range of people as I was liaising with students, academics, colleagues across different teams and alumni – many of whom were in senior positions in their companies. I reached a point where I felt comfortable speaking with such a diverse range of people.

Another achievement was starting the College Employability Newsletter from scratch and working on improving on this over the duration of my internship, and being able to see the open rate increase and the subsequent increase in events bookings.

I also had the opportunity to get involved in so many different aspects and gain a lot of experience in organising events, working in an admin-type role in Higher Education which has enabled me to go on to secure a permanent job at the University.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I started up the College Employability newsletter which the team did not have capacity to do so before and I worked with Design Team to rebrand our College employability branding. Our College also had its highest ever number of alumni volunteering hours and number of volunteering activities during 2015-16 as with more capacity, we were able to organise more events, engage more alumni and I was able to update the database much more regularly to reflect this.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I was asked to help an academic organise a very last-minute overseas alumni trip which required asking colleagues in GED and they need a much longer time frame to organise these type of events so it caused a problem. I overcame it by ensuring I kept both the academic and the alumni team regularly up-to-date with progress, managing the expectations of the academic and making it clear the number of attendees may be low as it is last-minute. It made sure I was clearly communicating the academic’s requests to the alumni team and being persistent in making sure the academic provided us with the key details as quickly as possible. In response to this we then wrote a procedure summary for all academics to follow in future when wanting to organise an alumni event and to provide them with realistic time-frames.

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“My Alumni & Employability Assistant provided vital support to events, newsletters & alumni engagement” – Line Manager. 

Access to Internships Co-ordinator – University of Exeter, Employment Services

Administration, Advertising, Marketing and PR, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Coordinating the A2I scheme:
*Managed the Access to Internships email
*Managed the student and graduate sign up to the scheme, saved applications and highlighted any issues.
*Used My Career Zone to make appropriate changes to the sign up form.
*Managed the A2I email list and sent out fortnightly e-newsletters.
*Prepared A2I Agreements and Appendices for the employer/student/ chased returns where necessary.
*Updated the spreadsheets, recorded accurate and up to date information
*Took part in the weekly Internship catch up meetings.
*Got involved in creative marketing/PR
*Assisted with arrangements for Access to Internships events – ensuring that they were advertised on My Career Zone,
made appropriate room bookings, promoted them across campus and assisted with the preparation of the paperwork.
*Sent out follow up emails to students/graduates and employers to check the progress of the internship.
*Dealt with setting employers up on the finance system, raising purchase orders and payment of invoices and kept
accurate records of the finance activity.
*Arranged grant payments to students and recorded payments grants accurately.
*Obtained feedback from employers and students/graduates
*Contributed to the evaluation of scheme
*As appropriate updated the A2I procedures.
*Assisted colleagues in the team with other activities, particularly at times of peak demand
*Worked together in a mutually supportive way and worked towards shared goals

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I feel I accomplished many things as my time as GBP – for example greatly exceeding targets set, both in the form of sign ups and financially. I also began to overcome a fear of public speaking and of advising students about potential careers.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I administrated around £237,000 which consequently helped around 218 students with funding. I also often covered and assisted the internship team, especially when a member of the team was absent or when their workload became extra demanding. Similarly, I often assisted the wider team and as a result have gained valuable experience of event organisation. For example I have helped to run events such as the Career Mentor scheme’s ‘Meet Your Mentor’ events, Careers in the South West event and recruitment fairs.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

Many challenges arose when thinking about how to specifically market to students who meet the Widening Participation criteria. This was very important to overcome as the WP funding was one of the largest pots of funding I was tasked with spending/allocating; over £150,000. This was difficult due to the sensitive nature of the criteria and the fact that I had no means to be able to identify them as a mass. One of the ways I overcame this was by assembling as many data reports as possible in order to be able to identify and target larger numbers of WP students.

Environmental Education Assistant – Royal Parks Foundation

Access to Internships (A2I), Charity and Development Work, Education, Teaching and Research, Environmental Work, Geography, Hospitality and Event Management,

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I was involved in the everyday running of an environmental education holiday club in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London/ The Lookout, part of the Royal parks foundation education programme at the Lookout, Hyde Park.
This gives city children the opportunity to explore what the outdoors has to offer.
Tasks included:
-Supporting Ecology Centre staff with delivery of school sessions and holiday activities.
-Preparing equipment and resources for use, and ensuring they are maintained and stored correctly after use.
-Assisting with the day-to-day running of the centre, including daily set up and animal care.
-Maintaining the Ecology Garden and Edible Forest Teaching Garden, e.g. through planting and weeding.
-Supporting Ecology staff with organising and delivering the events programme and smaller activities for visitors.
-Welcoming and engaging visitors to the centre.
-Supporting other Ecology projects within the park and local community.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement was being confident enough to make suggestions alongside the work I was being asked to do. Because of this I feel as though I’ve been able to have a small influence and put my stamp on some of the programmes at these centres. One example, included suggesting there should be an education display in one of the class
rooms, and I then took on the task to complete that. I was very proud of the result.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to be an extra help during the busy holiday period, mainly by preparing for lessons, laying out equipment and then taking an active involvement in the sessions with young people. I was also able to be a help with a huge amount of admin tasks for the Royal Parks foundation as their fundraising half marathon approaches in October. This was great to be involved in as the run raises money for the parks education programmes.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

It wasn’t a huge problem, but I did learn a lot about time management when it comes to commuting on the London tubes. There is a lot of unreliability, so making sure I was on time and ready for work was sometimes made difficult by cancelled trains.

Student Information Desk Advisor – University of Exeter

Administration, Geography,

Student Information Desk, SID, University of Exeter SID, SCP, SBP, GBP

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Working on the SID desk, I delivered exceptional customer service to students and staff. This involved listening, and offering advice on issues concerning finance, accommodation, IT and many other areas. I needed to communicate effectively, as well as liaise with members of staff from other teams in the University in order to resolve student and staff enquiries. I was required to treat each enquiry in a professional and confidential manner while working in a fast-paced, vibrant environment.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Being able to communicate effectively with members of the team and learning new skills and information each day. Also, earning the respect and trust of my colleagues to be able to deliver a high standard of work.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I completed an office renovation project over the course of 6 weeks, making our back office more accessible and easier to use. I also networked with a variety of teams at the University to set out a clear plan for the project. Additionally, I took on further responsibilities such as an IT report project and leading the team for a day.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There were many IT enquiries of which I had little knowledge about. I would communicate with members of my own team or specialist IT teams within the University to find out more information, or look for advice.

I also had to deal with difficult callers or people at the SID Desk. In time, I watched how other people in the team would deal with them and used their techniques for the next time I received any difficult phone calls or desk enquiries.

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Graduate SUDS Officer – Devon County Council

Geography, Mining, Environment and Natural Resources,

UoE Internships, University of Exeter Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I supported the work of one of Devon County Council’s Flood and Coastal Risk Engineers by providing bespoke surface water drainage advice, in respect of major planning applications, to eleven Planning Authorities in Devon. I fulfilled this statutory duty by critically reviewing the technical aspects of Flood Risk Assessments and engineering drawings, using my knowledge of environmental science, engineering and mathematics, supported by specialist computer software. Whilst preparing this advice, I was responsible for liaising with the Flood and Coastal Risk Officers within the Team, alongside staff from other Risk Management Authorities, to identify any local flood risk issues which could impact a development.

Providing this advice often involved attending site and office meetings, at which, if I was the principal officer, I was responsible for ensuring that a technically viable and sustainable surface water drainage management plan was negotiated and secured, even where significant environmental or financial constraints to development existed.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Whilst providing bespoke advice to Local Planning Authorities, I was able to deploy much of my knowledge gained throughout my degree, ultimately ensuring that all new major developments throughout Devon employed sustainable measures to manage surface water flood risk.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to provide support to one of the Flood and Coastal Risk Management Team’s new statutory duties, ensuring that the surface water drainage aspects of all new major developments across Devon were scrutinised in detail.

Mr. Christopher James Perrott

Environmental Monitoring Technician – Air Quality Monitors

Administration, Employer Feedback, Geography, Manufacturing, Engineering and Processing,

University of Exeter Internships, UoE Internships, A2I, SCP, SBP, GBP

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

During my internship my role included ‘on-site’ visits where I calibrated equipment and becoming part of the sales team where I worked within the officer and dealt with clients. I also did general office work as well as analysing results for the monitors and helping to solve any potential issues that may have occurred.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

The internship helped me gain an understanding of what working life is like. I also gained skills in managing the public and with communicating with clients. Additionally, I improved on some of my university skills, including the use of GIS and report writing.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was very efficient in carrying out all tasks given to me and produced operating manuals that will continue to be helpful to the company.

“Sarah is keen, hardworking and very enthusiastic. She carried out all tasks quickly and efficiently and was happy to do anything to help” – Line Manager

Employment Services Administration Assistant – University of Exeter

Administration, Employer Feedback, Geography,

Career Zoen Internship, University of Exeter Internship, UoE Internship, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My role was to provide administrative support to the Employment Services team, particularly with imputing vacancies into My Career Zone. It has given me fantastic work experience and provided me with a wide range of transferable skills that will benefit me throughout my career.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to quickly grasp new processes and procedures meaning I established myself as an essential and valuable member of the team early on.

“Amy was enthusiastic, even for mundane tasks and showed dedication to her role. She showcases the best qualities of Exeter students” – Vacancy Coordinator

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