All posts by Joanna Louise McCreedie

Make It Marketing – Marketing and Events Assistant

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

I was involved with event planning and organising, for example I was given the task to find sponsors for the fashion show we were organising. I also assisted at some event on site, ensuring that the guests are having a great time and that the event runs smoothly. For example, my task was to make sure models are wearing the right outfit and that all guests received their gifts. I was also involved with social media, designing and copywriting social media posts were also among my daily tasks.

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

I assisted to many successful event and I took a big part in keeping our guests satisfied at the events we organised.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I believe I helped Make It Marketing with my design skills when I was working on social media posts. Besides, I also tried my best to keep our guests satisfied, which clearly has a direct positive effect on the company.

Web Wise Media – Front End Web Developer

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

My main responsibilities included developing and maintaining web sites for our customers – mainly using WordPress and Shopify. Also, I was responsible for responding to customers’ queries and to provide solutions to them where needed.

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

I always wanted to improve my web design/development skills and this internship was a perfect way to just do that. Not only that, but I learned how to code efficiently and in a timely manner – without getting caught up in minor details. Since we had a lot of customers and a lot of small tasks, I couldn’t afford to spend hours on just one task as I would for my coursework. It really helped me a lot to learn and experience the practical side of web development.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

During the first months of my internship, I helped my lightening the workload of everyone in the team. As the time passed, I got involved in more and more projects and soon became one of the ‘longest standing’ people on my team who had a flexible approach and who could complete tasks with minimal supervision.

3CUBED Search – Executive Search Consultant

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

  • Headhunting
  • Interviewing and pairing the right people, personalities and skills sets to fantastic job opportunities across the globe
  • Screening candidates and drawing up shortlists of candidates for clients to interview
  • Organising interviews both phone and face to face
  • Helping applicants to prepare for interviews
  • Building relationships and rapport with clients and candidates.
  • Negotiating offers and contracts

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

I have had to teach myself a lot of about backend development, full stack development and the programming languages associated with Senior Engineers. Having not come from a technical/comp sci background I would have never learnt this in a classroom. In addition, I have learnt how to evaluate the skill level and quality of experience of a person through just an initial phone conversation.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

My internship lighted the workload of the rest of my colleagues and I brought in a new pool of very talented Senior Engineers & Backend Developers in the UK and US. I also have a few candidates in their final stages of receiving offers which would increase my company’s profit.

Devon Development Education (Exeter) – Global Learning Resources

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

My main responsibility was to promote the Spanish teaching resource “Hola Peru” at different schools across Devon. I met with teachers on a weekly basis to provide and explain to them how to use this resource. After covering the Devon county, I publicised our resource on other platforms and started to send it to different teachers across the whole country. I held Skype/FaceTime sessions with these teachers.

Apart from promoting Hola Peru, I have also helped the organisation with a wide array of activities. These include: managing Fair Trade events; giving presentations; setting a database of the schools which teach Spanish in Devon; and helping colleagues with their programmes among other duties.

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

It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking in English and gave me the confidence to work in a British workplace.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Thanks to my work, they achieved to give 20 copies of Hola Peru and benefitted from my help to running of their activities more smooth.

Travel Behaviour Analyst – Devon Country Council

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

  1. Completion of survey with shared path users and other contacts via email and social media including promotion by Devon County Council.
  2.  Research into other share this space guidance/information.
  3. Report and presentation recommending how project could develop, awareness

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

My biggest achievement has been having the confidence to approach strangers and persuade them to pause their walk/cycle to talk to me about the shared space provisions across Exeter and Devon. Then, as I was representing the DCC, fielding questions about unrelated complaints which the public had. I have also had to create a report and deliver a presentation on my findings from this week in front of a large group of industry experts, which tested my presentational skills.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The feedback on the Exe Estuary Trail that we collected provided valuable evidence that the initiative is working, and that people understand the message. We highlighted key areas for improvement, whether physically along the trail, or with the existing signage. This sort of data hasn’t been collected yet, as the council couldn’t spare staff members for it, and so they are exceedingly grateful to have had us working on it this week- even if it was only for a few days.

 What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, customer service, assessing and managing risk

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Motivation, logical thinking, work ethic

Volunteer Opportunities Officer – Wheal Martyn

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

My role for the week was to create four volunteer role profiles. In order to do this I had to speak to people including: the Museum Manager, Curator, Exhibition and Engagement Officer and the Project Manager to inform these roles. I also created promotional material for the new volunteer roles and amended existing application and induction forms to make them suitable.

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

Over the course of my internship I had to arrange meetings with a variety of people both face to face and over the telephone so my biggest achievement was gaining the confidence to talk to these new people in order to complete my work. I think this will be an advantage in any internships or jobs I have in the future as I will have the confidence to speak to a range of people.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Wheal Martyn have recently been awarded a funding by the Heritage Lottery for a new project called the Clay Works! Project. Due to this, there are many new opportunities for volunteers which need to be communicated to the public. The creation of volunteer role profiles and promotional material will be helpful to Wheal Martyn as these materials will enable the museum to recruit a diverse range of people to become volunteers. Creating these materials can be time consuming and the office is very busy due to the commencement of this new project so the work completed during my internship will help to lighten a small part of the workload the museum currently has.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, research, networking

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, perseverance, professionalism

 

Physical Education/ School Games Assistant – St Luke’s School

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

Roles included teaching and leading a variety of primary school P.E lessons and assisting two big sports activity days and St Luke’s Science and Sport College

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

Improved my skills to communicate to children and fellow work colleagues. I improved my ability to perform under pressure when teachers from schools were watching me teach Physical Education.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The employer had extra needed help to run a sports activity day for 500 primary school children. The employer increased his networking through the University.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, leadership, decision making

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, motivation, work ethic

International E-Marketing – Cinderhill Farm

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

My main responsibility was to research the potential market in the Netherlands. I had to research different routes to market as well as who the consumer would be, if there would be a demand for this kind of product and any potential competitors.

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

As the internship was taken remotely, working independently for 8 hours a day was something I struggled with but ultimately managed to achieve.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I believe I provided my employer with a solid foundation to explore the Netherlands as an export opportunity.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Organisation, time and workload management, strategic planning

Archive Assistant – Beaford Arts

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

My main roles during my internship were: repackaging Roger Deakin’s photographs that were taken in the 1970s, listing those photos and labelling them, listing oral history interviews, researching those in the interviews using ancestry and find my past, cataloguing photos by James Ravilious ready for it to go up on the website, using EXCEL to list and catalogue photographs and learning archivist skills, techniques and conservation techniques.

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

I learnt loads of new skills that increase my employability. I also explored a new career, one I never would have considered and completed all tasks independently and to a high standard.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to assist with the wider ‘Hidden History’ project, decreasing the workload of the archivist and helping the project to keep to its time schedule. I also helped to sort, label and list all the photographs which will make searching and researching of the photographs much easier.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, leadership, IT

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Commercial awareness, motivation, work ethic

Curation Intern – University of Exeter College of Social Sciences and International Studies

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

I was responsible for cataloguing artefacts and putting them on the museum database, preparing history files for some objects and sorting out the store. It was crucial to prepare the collection for the opening of the museum in 2020. My work mostly focused on Roman, medieval and Elizabethan coins as well as some pottery pieces from Devon area. Cataloguing them required me to find information not only about history of the object but also funding, acquisition, rights field collection etc.

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

I managed to complete all initially planned tasks ahead of time so I had time to help further. I also gained sector specific knowledge as well as historical one, which I was not aware of before.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped to sort the stores and lightened the workload of the curator, who was relieved to focus on other important tasks. I also made it easier to move around the stores.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, organisation, research

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Logical thinking, independence, professionalism