Tag Archives: Exeter UK

Devon and Cornwall OPCC -Employer Case Study

Administration, Defence and Public Protection, Employer Feedback, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Internship Schemes, Law, Politics and International Relations, Psychology, Sociology and Criminology, ,

Name of Organisation: Devon and Cornwall OPCC

Description of Organisation:  The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is a non-political, impartial organisation and its head of paid service is the chief executive officer. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is a separate organisation to Devon and Cornwall Police. It fits into several categories such as strategy, policy and performance, Criminal justice, commissioning and partnerships, collaborations, and national activity as well as, many more. The Police and Crime Commissioner is to be the voice of the people in policing.

Name of Employer: Andrew Kirchin

Job Title: Communications and Engagement Manager

Internship Scheme used:  GBP

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We employed an intern to work within our office of the police and crime commissioner. The GBP became a valued member of the team very quickly and showed her worth. She worked hard in the workplace and made a great impact on our organisation. We were very impressed with her work so we have extended her internship with us and we would also like to offer her a full-time contract too.

This is the third intern I have brought into my team and, in all the fifth into the office. All have made a fantastic impact, and all have been offered a full-time roll as a result. Bringing in bright, ambitious individuals has changed the dynamic of the office for the better in a way I have seldom seen in the public sector.

I would just like to say that, yet again, the standard of applicant we attracted through the University’s Graduate Business Partnership was outstanding. All three passed the threshold for appointment at interview. We were very impressed with the way the chosen candidate presented herself. She was a credit to whatever work the University does to prepare students for this next stage of their lives. I would highly recommend the University of Exeter’s internship team and we will continue to use this brilliant service.

 

Seasons Ecology -Employer Case Study

Access to Internships (A2I), Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Internship Schemes, Science, ,

Name of Organisation:  Seasons Ecology

Description of Organisation: Seasons Ecology is an ecological consultancy providing expert technical support on a range of development and conservation projects. There is a Bath and North East Somerset team as well as, another team of ecologists in Somerset West, Taunton and Devon who all work out of our office in Wiveliscombe, however, we work nationwide, providing services across the country.

Name of Employer: Hannah Maben

Job Title: Director

Internship Scheme used:  A2I

Employer subsidies (A2I) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited an intern to work as an Assistant Ecologist. She was able to accompany staff on surveys and assist in preparing technical reports which was extremely helpful as its freed time up for senior colleagues. Our University of Exeter student was fantastic, she was prepared for the workplace and worked well within our team.

She is returning to university to continue her studies; however, we hope she will keep in touch and would encourage her to apply for any appropriate roles we have when she graduates.

Exeter University’s Internship Scheme has been a great experience. Being able to provide an enthusiastic student with an opportunity to gain experience during our busy summer season has been rewarding on many levels for all involved. Thank you.

Devon County Council- Employer Case Study

Administration, Charity and Development Work, Defence and Public Protection, Employer Feedback, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Internship Schemes, Law, Politics and Government, Politics and International Relations, Social Guidance and Community Work, , ,

Name of Organisation: Devon County Council

Description of Organisation and Role: Devon County Council is the county council administering services across Devon. The members are elected every four years to reflect the electorate of each county division. Most being nominated by the large national political parties.

The main purpose of the internship was to support the Democratic process of Devon County Council to assist in ensuring those processes are carried out in accordance with statutory requirements and the Council’s Constitution and procedures and also with the promotion and encouragement of public involvement and participation through, for example, webcasting and social media.

Name of Employer: Karen Strahan

Job Title: Head of Democratic Services

Internship Scheme used:  GBP

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited an intern to work as a Democratic and Scrutiny Support Officer. He worked on a task group which researched air quality and congestion in Devon. This included producing a report with innovative recommendations targeted at improving air quality and congestion. The report attracted media attention with the Chair undertaking a radio interview, based on the work done by our brilliant intern. Our student became a very important part of our team.

I believe quite passionately about giving young people the opportunity to start their careers and give them a platform to move onwards and upwards. At present there was no vacant full-time position to offer so I made the decision to go through the intern process for a second time.

As a newly appointed manager, I was keen to explore the opportunities offered by the GBP. The fact that I am about to undertake a second placement is testament to the GBP and the calibre of candidates that apply for the positions. The experience was very positive, support from the University of Exeter is excellent and also a fresh face joining the team is always good to shake things up and look at how we do things differently. I recommend hiring an intern, ours was timely and smart and made a positive contribution to our organisation.

 

Restore Support Network- Employer Case Study

Access to Internships (A2I), Charity and Development Work, Defence and Public Protection, Internship Schemes, Law and Legal Services, Social Guidance and Community Work, Sociology and Criminology, , ,

Name of Organisation: Restore Support Network

Description of Organisation: We are a national registered charity who provides personalised and specialist one to one support for people who are in prison prior to release, as well as those who are over the age of 50 with criminal convictions in the community with physical, mental health or social care needs.

Name of Employer: Stuart Ware

Job Title: Chief Executive Officer

Internship Scheme used:  A2I Employer subsidies (A2I) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited an intern to work as a Trainee Mentor and Coordinator who worked exceptionally well as part of our small team.

We were all very happy with the calibre of the student. She worked hard to meet all the objectives we set and played a lead role in developing an ex-offenders women’s group which was attended by over 10 women.

The University of Exeter student proved an enormous benefit to our charity and she contributed greatly to the development of our women’s support group. Without hesitation we would have her again placed with us. She was a great credit to the university.

We found the internship experience very positive and the contribution our intern made in our organisation was outstanding.

 

 

Designability Charity Limited – Employer Case Study

Access to Internships (A2I), Charity and Development Work, Education, Employer Feedback, Engineering, Sport and Health Sciences,

 

Name of Organisation: Designability Charity Limited

Description of Organisation: We are an independent charity with a mission to create and provide products that enable disabled people to live with greater independence. We aim to draw on the expertise and resources of designers, engineers and occupational therapists to ensure our products make a positive impact in people’s lives.

Name of Employer: Rob Hanson

Job Title: Mechanical Design Engineer

Internship Scheme used:  A2I Employer subsidies (A2I) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

 Feedback:

Our intern worked with us in the user-engagement and requirements gathering for a purpose-designed ‘saddle’ as part of our ongoing development of dynamic seating for children with dystonic cerebral palsy. As a charity, the team’s time and resources are very limited, so the student’s contribution of scoping and defining the product requirements, translating user-engagement to concept ideas, and shaping an early product definition has been useful in moving this part of the project forward.

This contribution of furthering thinking and understanding in this area is extremely valuable in itself.  As a researcher she was extremely thorough in her scoping, thinking and documentation. She has been a pleasure to work with; quiet, considerate and kind.

We feel that the internship scheme is a great way to get students (either undergrad or graduate) industry connected. Our intern joined us for a short internship, bringing fresh thinking and an open mind. Willing to learn, keen to contribute, and driven to make a positive impact with the engineering skills she developed at university, I am glad she could spend some time with us.

 

Quote from Intern:

“My time included home visits to a child who would be using the saddle seat – this improved my skills in user-centered design and helped me understand the complex requirements of seating for dystonic cerebral palsy children. I improved my teamworking skills, in consulting other engineers/occupational therapists on my design. I became more confident in putting forward my ideas, as well as understanding criticisms.”

Artecology- Employer Case Study

Access to Internships (A2I), Charity and Development Work, Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Internship Schemes, ,

 

Name of Organisation: Artecology

Description of Organisation: Artecology is the innovative research and development department of ARC Biodiversity and Climate. Based on the Isle of Wight, Artecology work with industry and research partners to create bio receptive construction and landscape designs for marine, freshwater and land-based development.

Name of Employer: Ian Boyd

Job Title: Director

Internship Scheme used:  Access to Internships (A2I)

Employer subsidies (A2I) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Internship Feedback:

We recruited an intern to work as a Research Assistant within our organisation. We set her a number of objectives that she met to a very high standard and she made a very positive contribution to our company.

The key output from our Intern’s work was feasibility work on new ideas for Artecology training modules, essential work that we are continuing to take forwards.

We were really impressed with the calibre of the University of Exeter student. She was well prepared for the workplace and worked very well as part of our team.

The Intern was ‘poached’ by a very large international consultancy! We were very happy for her and actually rather proud that we played some small part in her success.

We found the internship experience with Exeter University (and our outstanding intern) to be really useful to our work and to our thinking about future HE collaboration. We would highly recommend any firm to participate in taking on an Intern with the University.

Employee Services Administrator (HR Administration) – University of Exeter

Administration, Business and Management, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training

pexels-photo-48727

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

General HR admin including answering email and telephone enquiries, producing employment references, processing new starters, processing extensions and contract changes.

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

Being offered a higher paid HR admin position in recognition of the hard work I’d put in during my internship.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped colleagues and team during a very busy period and I also started the process of centralising some HR processes.

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

When I didn’t know how to do something I used my common sense, made notes when learning processes to reflect back on, and asked other members of my team.

“My experience of recruiting a GBP through the Employment Services team has been entirely positive. Our GBP Emma has made a strong impact, and this has been an exciting and different way of developing talent within our team.” – Rob Tinley, Head of Employee Services

Assistant Research Scientist – College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences

Access to Internships (A2I), Biosciences, Physics and Astronomy, Science

clinic-doctor-health-hospital

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

After becoming comfortable with the literature, my main role in this internship was to train in the Biophysics labs and learn from a PhD student before going on to help them complete research. After completing this research I was responsible for the production of a paper detailing the process and results, with an aim to getting the paper published in a scientific journal. I have also attended the regular Biophysics group meetings, as well as being given the opportunity to hear guest speakers from other Universities talk when they have visited the Physics department here in Exeter.

Overall, the whole of my internship has been an amazing and extremely rewarding experience. I have learned much more about what life as a scientist really is, got to grips with a wide variety of new scientific concepts through studying the literature, and had exposure to a thriving scientific environment where it was a privilege to listen to scientists talk about their work. I believe my biggest achievement over the course of this internship is either the growth in confidence and ability to network that I have experienced, or the production (with much help and guidance) of a scientific paper that will hopefully be published, something I did not think I was capable of at this age.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

As previously mentioned, I helped to complete a piece of novel research for my employer as well as writing the results into a paper. Moreover, having now had experience in the Biophysics labs I would be more suited to working in this department again if my employer wanted a summer student next year.

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

I encountered problems as a part of the work, such as a lack of knowledge of the specific vocabulary required to understand many of the concepts spoken about daily in this department. However, I overcame these either through research or asking for assistance where necessary. Everyone in the department has been very friendly and more than happy to offer assistance where necessary which has been invaluable to me.

Marketing and PR Executive – Make it Marketing

Access to Internships (A2I), Advertising, Marketing and PR, Hospitality and Event Management

Marketing

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

One of my main roles involved writing blogs for other companies, and adapting the style of the post to suit their target audience.  Clients included: camper van hire, casino rental hire, and estate agents. I was also involved with designing leaflets for local restaurants and contacting hotels and B&Bs to see if they would give the leaflets to their customers.

Whilst working for Make it Marketing I used a variety of software including: Canva, Pixabay, SproutSocial, SurveyMonkey, MailChimp, Word Press, Modx, Asana, Eventbrite, Skiddle, and Paperless Post.
I also created content plans for clients, scheduled social media posts, and wrote blogs for the company.

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

Learning to use lots of different online platforms to carry out efficient administration and promotion for various clients.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I wrote lots of blog content which improved the quality of the business’ website and its clients.

Employment Services Administration Assistant

Administration, Employer Feedback, English, Human Resources, Recruitment and Training, Student Campus Partnership (SCP)

employment

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

I supported the Central Employment Services Team in the daily delivery of their student services. I also administrated the feedback process for University of Exeter Managed Internship Schemes. In addition I provided ad-hoc support for fairs and events throughout the year, as well as ad-hoc office support

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

Having the chance to provide Line Manager with an evaluative presentation on the administrative process I had been working on all year, in order to present an analysis of the system and also to suggest ways to optimise the efficiency of it

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I provided my employer with additional administrative support during busy periods.

“It was great having Peter on the team.  He was able to provide us with a student perspective on our scheme, help us be more efficient and also assisted up with streamlining some of our processes. He was hard working and fast at what he was asked to do and always willing to take on the work” – Line Manager.