Category Archives: Business and Management

Employer Case Study: QWERTY Beer Box

Access to Internships (A2I), Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, Degree subject, Economics, Employer Feedback, Hospitality and Event Management, Internship Schemes, Retail, Sector, , , ,

Name of Organisation: QWERTY Beer Box

Description of Organisation: QWERTY Beer Box is a year one University of Exeter startup, formed in March 2020 to give independent breweries the national recognition they deserve. We’ve since put together 4 independent craft beer selections (Best of the Cotswolds, Devon, Bristol and Wales), partnered with over 40 breweries, worked with numerous high profile corporate clients and sold over 1500 QWERTY Beer Boxes. In 2021 we are looking to triple our 2020 annual sales, export British craft beer to the EU and explore numerous other sales channels.

Name of Employer: Quinn Leatherbarrow-Stokes

Job Title: Co Founder

Internship Scheme used: Access to Internships (A2I),  Student Business Partnerships (SBPs) 

Feedback:

Together with the intern we were able to define a project that would entail discovering and pursuing incremental sales opportunities in the B2B market across the Southwest (Devon, Cornwall & The Cotswolds). They became an expert in this area of the business and were able to add value to the overall business. Although not leading directly to immediate sales it has paved the way for future expansion and we are in the process of bringing them back on board come September.

Given the results achieved and the attitude and talent demonstrated by the student I do not think there are any obvious improvements. One aspect that I did find helped the relationship was that I was a student at the University of Exeter last year and so was aware of other commitments and we were able to work together on this.

The A2I team have been amazing. They worked with us to put together a job listing and advertised it to the talented students at the University of Exeter. We had a shortlist of students and were able to find someone who was perfect for the role. The student themselves added significant value to the QWERTY Beer Box team and business and gave us the extra capacity to pursue incremental opportunities.

Student Case Study- Planet Earth Games

Access to Internships (A2I), Administration, Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, Hospitality and Event Management, Internship Schemes, Politics and International Relations, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , , , ,

Name of Student:  Dominic Hughes

Degree Subject: BA Politics with Study Abroad

Job Title:  Marketing and Communications Officer

Company Name:  Planet Earth Games

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Description of Company: Young people and adults are more concerned over climate change and its effects on the natural environment than at any other time. At the same time, inactivity and obesity are at record levels. We are a not-for-profit organisation who passionately believe in the symbiotic relationship between the environment and human activity.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

My key duties were the management of digital platforms and to develop content for digital platforms. I was also responsible for website management, including regular updates as well as, PR and Communications, including media relations and generating media coverage.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

The outputs and outcomes I delivered for my employer was strong digital engagement on all platforms and I drove event sales towards minimum of 60% occupancy.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Being involved in the launch of the first ever Planet Earth Games, our team sought press coverage in the lead up to the event and also media coverage on the day. The task was to contact media organisations with press releases and invites to the event. We were delighted as a BBC representative attended on the day.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

It proved really difficult to convert digital engagement to event sign ups, particularly filling boys football teams and tennis teams. As a result, we were forced to drop boys football and tennis from the schedule.

Skills Learnt 

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Communication
  • Enterprise
  • Problem Solving
  • Decision Making

Attributes Developed 

  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Motivation
  • Personal Awareness

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“I cannot recommend the Access to Internship scheme enough. Chris Broadbent, the CEO of Planet Earth Games, has worked in media and marketing for many years and was fantastic to work with. We worked to deliver a meaningful project – the world’s first environment themed multi-sport event.”

Employer Quote:

“Working with the University internship scheme was transformational for our growing organisation and allowed us to deliver a highly ambitious event with very little resources.” – Chris Broadbent

Student Case Study – Roly’s Fudge

Access to Internships (A2I), Administration, Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, Hospitality and Event Management, Information Technology, Internship Schemes, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , , , ,

Name of Student:  Annabel Ilic

Degree Subject: BSC Management with Marketing

Job Title:  Communications Assistant Intern

Company Name:  Roly’s Fudge

Type of Internship:   Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Description of Company: Originating from Devon in the West Country over 30 years ago, we now have independently-run family fudge pantries across the UK. Each shop uses traditional recipes to make fresh fudge every day, handmade in full view for you to see.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

During my internship I created blog posts and social media posts. I also produced newsletters and general marketing (with a focus on re-branding and the environment and sustainability).

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

The key outputs and outcomes I delivered for my employer was producing blog posts and social media posts to gain more exposure. I created two newsletters which were a huge success. The first being opened by 1352 people and the second by 1445 people.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I was asked to help with the re-branding of the business, focusing on the ‘faces of Roly’s Fudge’ (the families who own different franchises). I had to create profiles for each owner, using Canva and help to create the webpage for it on WordPress. Whilst this is still a work-in-progress, my manager is very happy with what I have done and it has been a very intrinsically motivating task as well. It has provided me an outlet to show what I have learnt during my internship and hope in the future it will help change people’s perceptions of the business.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

Nothing notable. Sometimes time-management was difficult and I found myself running out of tasks, but by communicating my thoughts and giving feedback to my manager, everything was resolved.

  Skills Learnt 

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Leadership
  • Time and Work Load Management
  • Organisation

  Attributes Developed 

  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Motivation

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from my internship, but I have absolutely loved it. This experience has provided me with many useful skills that I will no doubt use in the future. After opting out of my industrial placement, it has given me a real boost of confidence and reassured me that I have the ability to be effective in the workplace. Better still, I was given the flexibility of working from home so it complimented my university studies well. I would recommend this scheme to anyone who is looking for meaningful experience and an insight into what ‘real life’ work is all about.”

Employer Quote:

“I was really pleased with the service from the internships team, who guided us through every step, advertising for the role and even helping with funding.  We took on two interns who were keen to learn and were so pleased with them that we offered them further work with us.” – Dannee McGuire (Director)

Student Case Study:  Colab- Resilient Women’s Project

Access to Internships (A2I), Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, Education, Education, Teaching and Research, Health Care, Internship Schemes, Law, Politics and International Relations, Psychology, Sociology and Criminology, , , , ,

Name of Student:  Jane Curmi

Degree Subject: BSC Sociology and Criminology

Job Title:  Resilient women project intern

Company Name:  Colab – Resilient Women’s Project

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I)

Description of Company: As an integrated cross sector wellbeing and innovation hub our goal is to improve lives by improving the context in which support for change occurs, as well as delivering meaningful and relevant services. Supporting people with complex life situations and multiple disadvantages, such as mental ill-health, homelessness, domestic and sexual violence and abuse, substance misuse, (re)offending and poverty we focus our support around recovery, belonging, rehabilitation and wellbeing.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Support the facilitation and delivery of a range of initiatives, working with the team to support women in the Criminal Justice System and those with complex needs, support resilient women’s project navigator scheme to offer direct pathway planning to women in the Criminal Justice System, support the delivery of resilient women financial abuse project training sessions, supporting the women’s sex worker project, take part in team meetings, learning opportunities and presentations, write findings and recommendations for future development as part of my placement requirement.

 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I was asked to support the women’s sex workers project; the resilient women’s project was awarded Tampon Tax funding to undertake a further scoping exercise which would include gaining the views of women themselves and were awarded a really small pot of funding. The aim is to inform health and other social policy makers of what the needs are and how women want them to be addressed, with a view to looking at how to further support women in this situation. I was asked by the project manager to look over evidence that was already collected to familiarise myself with the project. I done this and I also spent some time researching recent literature on the subject, then worked out a plan of how the project aims could be met. I researched links that could be involved in the Exeter area and composed various emails and sent it to links that could have some knowledge of women sex workers in the Exeter area. this received a response from SWARM in London who gave me a contact link in Exeter University. I arranged a meeting with my manager, the contact and I. This meeting was successful and provided the resilient women’s project at Exeter University.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

In general, my internship was very successful, the only thing I can say that did not go very well was when I was co-facilitating a course and a women turned up half way through the course and asked to take part. I felt that on instinct I should let her join the group. however, when reflecting afterwards I should have asked a senior member of staff as the women who attend these groups have multiple complex needs and I felt I may have let someone join and the situation could of changed and I would not be able to handle it. I discussed my feelings with my manager afterwards and came to the conclusions that in the future when a women turns up and the course has already started that she not be allowed to participate for the safety of the other attendees. This made me reflect on making quick decisions, I will in future be aware what the of making quick decisions and what the repercussions of that may be. 

Skills Learnt

  • Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Strategic Planning
  • Customer Service
  • Leadership

Attributes Developed

  • Creative thinking
  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Motivation

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“Colab is a dynamic place to work, I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement and I have been given work opportunities and experience I would not normally have access to. This internship has provided me with the experience I need to complete my studies and further my career.”

Employer Quote:

“Jane has been an exemplary student whilst working with the project.  She slotted into the team really naturally and went above and beyond the objectives set when needed.   I would like to thank Jane and the University for enabling this really interesting internship to take place.”

Student Case Study: Mayes Creative    

Access to Internships (A2I), Administration, Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, English, Internship Schemes, , , , ,

Name of Student:  Evangelia Kappos

Degree Subject: BA English 

Job Title: Marketing Intern

Company Name: Mayes Creative

Type of Internship: Access to Internships (A2I)

Description of Company: Mayes Creative engages the communities of Cornwall, Isles of Scilly and beyond in creative experiences to explore their world through heritage, science, technology and the environment. We want to discover new ways of thinking and doing that are fun and surprising, encouraging inspiration and broadening horizons.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

My key duties and responsibilities during my internship were the social media management of the company as well as, marketing and press releases.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

The key output I delivered to my employer was a social media campaign.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

I successfully marketed a project from the initial campaign idea to completion of a website page, content, and hashtag, which then resulted in the aimed for participation. This included schools in Cornwall getting involved and completing the challenge by sending the project origami suns to care homes, to spread community and joy.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

My hashtag definitely could have taken off more with other people within the community and I believe this could have been helped by creating press releases for radio and local press, and encouraging relatives and family to take part. I began to do this but unfortunately ran out of time!

Skills Learnt 

  • Communication
  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Negotiation
  • Leadership
  • Persuasion

Attributes Developed 

  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  • Motivation

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“This internship empowered me to consider myself an asset to a workplace, and to enter the job market after university with confidence and self-assurance. It also underlined to me in helpful ways where I can grow and develop as a result of the mentorship I received and through working with my fellow students.”

 

Student Case Study: Bitpod

Access to Internships (A2I), Advertising, Marketing and PR, Business and Management, Graphic Design, Internship Schemes, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , , , ,

Name of Student:  Alicia Shelford 

Degree Subject: BSC Management with Marketing WIE

Job Title:  Marketing Intern (Social Media)

Company Name: Bitpod

Type of Internship:   Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Description of Company: We’re an award-winning video marketing company based in Exeter. We get excited about helping clients to grow their businesses by capturing what makes them unique. The Bitpod approach is based on taking the time to understand your aims before deciding on the best way to achieve them. That’s why we’ve built lasting relationships with many of our clients. With a background in marketing and web development, we’re always thinking about how video fits into the bigger picture of your marketing strategy.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

– Presenting an 8 part informative video series for social media distribution, educating prospective clients on how to make video content.

– Writing and editing scripts for each video, and generating animation and graphic ideas to be implemented in editi           

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

Outputs – 8 part video series currently in post-production ready to be released to social media channels to drive new client engagement.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Having never managed a project from idea to completion, this internship gave me the chance to have complete ownership and accountability over the product and its outcome. I was tasked with writing the script for each video idea based on an initial briefing with my manager, and from there I generated the animations and gestures to be incorporated during filming. This meant that I had the freedom to be creative with the way in which the message was delivered, and as a result each video was successfully filmed and delivered on time each week, and with the creative flare that was needed in order to engage with the audience.

What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

Having never been particularly strong with writing, especially to an audience, it was difficult to understand who the audience was and what tone of voice would work best when trying to talk directly to them. It was often out of my comfort zone to think about an audience that I was not directly familiar with. It was also difficult to time manage, as so much had to be done in one day – having a briefing, then writing and editing a script, and then filming the actual footage. However with the help of my team with idea generation and second eye to look over what was written, we were able to successfully achieve all that we needed to in the allocated time frames.

Skills Learnt 

  • Problem Solving
  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Leadership
  • Focus on goals and outcomes
  • Ability to work under pressure

Attributes Developed 

  • Researching
  • Creative thinking
  • Independence
  • Logical thinking
  • Motivation

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“Overall a really great experience that allowed me to try something new and develop existing skills. I was able to meet like-minded and passionate people who taught me valuable skills and will be connections for my future career. I was offered an extension on my internship which I took up and thoroughly enjoyed.”

Student Case Study: Regency Wines 

Access to Internships (A2I), Business and Management, Economics, Graphic Design, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , , ,

Name of Student:  Reubin Bhogal 

Degree Subject: BSC Business Economics WIE

Job Title:  Graphic Designer

Company Name: Regency Wines

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Description of Company: Regency Wines is a family-owned regional wine merchant dedicated to sourcing and supplying wines and spirits to the licensed trade. We are proud to be different to most drinks companies. We are a specialist wine and spirit merchant, with a passion for great customer service.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Creating and preparing a brochure for Regency Wines to advertise their available spirits to their clients.      

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

Designed guidelines and master pages for the brochure including guidance on the fonts, layout, and colours in and InDesign document.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Regency Wine wanted a professional but engaging design to promote their spirits to clients – I was therefore asked to conceptualise and explore design ideas for the brochure. I collected and asked relevant questions to my boss and the team to uncover the theme and design style that may be most appropriate for the use-case before presenting back multiple ideas to the team – iterating on these designs after reviewing feedback. As a result we were able to land on a design that was appropriate for the business and all team members could agree on.

Skills Learnt 

  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Negotiation
  • Focus on goals and outcomes
  • Ability to work under pressure

Attributes Developed 

  • Researching
  • Creative thinking
  • Customer Service
  • Confidence
  • Professionalism

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“My internship at Regency Wines involved conceptualising and designing a brochure for the company to advertise their spirits to prospective clients. The experience involved providing my insights and advice regarding appropriate design practice before delivering design concepts for the team to consider. This then translated into setting up an InDesign document to effectively present and highlight Regency’s products.”

Regeneratus Consulting 1 Limited – Employer Case Study

Access to Internships (A2I), Business and Management, Economics, Employer Feedback, Internship Schemes, Management and Consultancy, Uncategorized, , , ,

Name of Organisation:  Regeneratus Consulting 1 Limited

Description of Organisation: Based in Exeter, Regeneratus Consulting is a consultancy firm with a focus on helping develop and improve businesses of all shapes and sizes from owner-managed SMEs to FTSE 100 companies.  We are currently helping clients with turnovers ranging from £100k to £20bn.

Name of Employer:  Robert Install

Job Title: Managing Director

Internship Scheme used:  Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Feedback:

I was really impressed with our Business Analyst intern.  He was polite, organised and efficient with good insight and an impressive commercial acumen. He helped source potential funders for a debt advisory mandate we were involved with which generated some income and also provided some helpful research and analysis.  I am confident that he will have a highly successful career and I was particularly impressed with the diligence he was showing in terms of sourcing graduate roles and summer internships in his first year.

The Internship Scheme run by the University exceeded our expectations, the quality of the applicants and the intern we hired was very impressive.  I would recommend it to any small business looking to source potential graduate talent and help develop students for the workplace and when the business requires it, will certainly be using the service again.

Quote from Intern:

“Aided in providing debt advisory services to a Welsh government-backed construction group, by securing £3m against assets. As well as, led research for in-house investment opportunities; created target profiles, forecasted returns and made recommendations.”

Morgan Hill Consultants – Employer Case Study

Accounting and Auditing, Accounting and Finance, Administration, Banking and Financial Services, Business and Management, Degree subject, Employer Feedback, Management and Consultancy, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , ,

 

Name of Organisation: Morgan Hill Consultants

Description of Organisation: We are a team comprising ex CIO’s of multinational businesses, finance professionals, data analysts, data scientists and systems architects. Together we bring hundreds of years of experience in delivering deep insight, cost optimisation and effective deployment of technology inside large organisations.

Name of Employer: Nigel Duke

Job Title: Managing Director

Internship Scheme used:  SBP

Student Business Partnership (SBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited a Data Analyst Support Intern through the Student Business Partnership with the University of Exeter. They helped with the development of a very promising ML algorithm to classify finance data for further analytics. It all went according to plan, there were no issues at all, and it was produced for a very high standard.

We were very impressed with the calibre of the student. We offered our intern an extension which she accepted, and we look forward to continuing working with her.

Our experience was very positive. Our intern was extremely intelligent, diligent, co-operative and very willing to get involved. It was a very positive experience and one that I hope may be repeated.

Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service – Employer Case Study

Business and Management, Degree subject, Economics, Employer Feedback, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Internship Schemes, Real Estate and Property, , , ,

 

Name of Organisation: Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service

Description of Organisation: Devon, Somerset & Torbay Trading Standards Service has a wide-ranging role in ensuring fair trading by supporting businesses and protecting consumers. The Service is committed to maintaining legal compliance to help ensure that businesses do not take an unfair advantage over competitors or consumers.

Name of Employer: Jay Capel

Job Title: Trading Standards Lead Officer

Internship Scheme used:  GBP

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

Feedback:

We recruited a Trading Standards Social Media Intern through the graduate business partnership with the University of Exeter. Our intern had a project to deliver which he did in a timely and professional manner. Devon County Council IT and salary payment system left a lot to be desired, but Oliver coped well and used his own IT skills to good effect.

Our intern also gave several presentations where he dealt with the audiences well and answered questions in a very mature and matter of fact manner.

Recruitment of the intern was an easy-to-follow procedure assisted by a knowledgeable team where nothing was too much trouble. It was a pleasure working with the intern who demonstrated a good work ethic and showed a maturity beyond his years. We really enjoyed having him on board and recommend the internship schemes provided by the University of Exeter to all types of businesses.