Category Archives: Psychology

Data Analyst – Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Exeter

Access to Internships (A2I), Accounting and Auditing, Charity and Development Work, Psychology, Social Guidance and Community Work, Sociology and Criminology,

SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I

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

These included analysing data from their recent wellbeing survey, specifically exploring gender and age differences and summarising my findings in a report.  I also provided recommendations on how to improve the survey. Once this was finished, I helped with research into local estate agents (specifically whether they were adhering to new laws) and trends in Universal Credit claims.

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

Being able to work independently and successfully manage my time.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I helped with research (on estate agents) and provided a comprehensive report of their survey findings.

 

Junior Mental Health Support Worker – South Somerset Mind

Access to Internships (A2I), Charity and Development Work, Health Care, Psychology, Science, Social Guidance and Community Work,

stress

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

My main responsibilities were to develop and deliver mental health well-being workshops across Somerset. This involved teaching service users about different aspects of mental health and providing them with various coping strategies. Within this role I also gave 1-2-1 well-being checks, carried out risk assessments, and provided telephone support and signposting to other agencies. The remainder of my time was spent on data entry: updating notes on services users and compiling data for reports. Additional roles included  designing my own session plan using research from third generation therapies, and creating and teaching mental health lessons in a local secondary school.

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

The experience was totally eye opening, I learnt more than I could ever have imagined! It was brilliant to be able to put my Psychology degree into practice and begin to understand the realities of mental health.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I brought fresh knowledge and ideas to the team, which were utilised. I also lightened my colleagues’ workloads and saved company expenditure.

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

Initially I did not have enough work to keep me busy. I promptly spoke to my line manager and she was able to give me more responsibilities and encouraged me to independently take my ideas forward by designing a new session plan for the well-being groups.

“It was very useful to have Kate. She did a great job and we have now offered her a full role” – CEO, South Somerset Mind.

Data Analyst – Depression and Anxiety Service

Access to Internships (A2I), Health Care, Psychology,

pexels-photo-40120

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

My main responsibility was to independently produce an audit and thematic analysis of patient response data.

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

My biggest achievement during the internship was completing the thematic analysis, and producing additional pieces of work including a report for commissioners, a web page article, and a poster for the depression and anxiety services. It was an achievement to produce all of this independently, learning new research and analytical skills, and conduct meeting with colleagues.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The primary benefit was producing the thematic analysis report. This will be used as a form of assessment for the service, enabling them to determine where they can make improvements and point towards future research.

Research Support Intern – CLES, University of Exeter

Access to Internships (A2I), Education, Teaching and Research, Psychology, Science,

research

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

My primary role was supporting a Professor with his past and future research. This included performing literature reviews and compiling and analysing data. For future research I learnt how to use the survey programming software lime survey, and programmed a survey to be used in future research. Further responsibilities included producing a written report of my statistical analysis conducted on a large collection of research findings for other Professors, as well as assisting with participant recruitment and attending research meetings.

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

I have learnt a lot about the process of designing, conducting and reporting research that I haven’t seen in practice as such at University. I also learnt new skills, such as survey programming, and developed more confidence and independence.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Primarily, I believe my completion of a written report detailing my statistical analyses would be useful when looking for avenues of future research. I also believe I lightened the workload, particularly by performing tasks such as literature reviews and recruitment.

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

I don’t believe I encountered any major issues, except we found the e-claims system a little difficult to set-up and navigate.

Audit Intern – PwC

Access to Internships (A2I), Accounting and Auditing, Psychology,

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

As an intern in the audit line of service I  was thrown straight to assist with the auditing of some of the firms that are clients of the Cardiff office. For example, I assisted with the audit of Lloyds Banking group. This was done after some brief training but mostly I was to learn on the job by doing, and by asking questions of my colleagues. This involved either working in the Cardiff office or travelling around to work in the client office. I was responsible for ensuring that financial information was correctly reported, and thus compliant with regulation, and simultaneously providing confidence to investors.

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

I improved my interpersonal skills, making lots of valuable contacts and new friends.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to do some of the less complicated tasks, reducing the workload for my colleagues; even completing an entire project on my own.

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

It was initially very scary to have to go and ask the client face-to-face for financial information. However I asked my colleagues to help me prepare what I would say and rehearsed it, and eventually it became much easier as i developed a rapport and a relationship with the client.

Quality Assurance Officer – Business School, University of Exeter

Education, Teaching and Research, Employer Feedback, Psychology,

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

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

During the internship my role was to lead a project to audit the Business School’s undergraduate and postgraduate modules to draw out and capture the extent to which these support the School’s internationalisation, employability, external engagement and environmental sustainability agendas for EQUIS accreditation. I also conducted interviews, both face to face and by email, with academic module leaders in the Business School, in order to draw out and capture information to record. Finally, I worked on the Key Information Sets (KIS) project which involved large volumes of data transfer and analysis.

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

The GBP scheme was one of the major factors that enabled me to secure a full time job as Admissions Administrator for the University of Exeter Medical School. I developed a range of skills, such as the ability to communicate and work with individuals from different backgrounds, ability to deliver high quality work to deadlines, excellent written communication skills (transcribing the interviews) and it also helped me to become an experienced interviewer. My confidence levels have gone up remarkably.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The work I did went a long way to assisting the Business School in its EQUIC accreditation by providing essential qualitative and quantitative information to senior managers. If the business school is successful in its accreditation, I will have been directly involved with getting the Business School recognised as one of the leading Business Schools in the UK.

“Naomi was a highly efficient and productive member of the team” – Line Manager

nidhiboda

Employment Services and Vacancy Support Assistant – University of Exeter

Employer Feedback, Human Resources, Recruitment and Training, Psychology,

Career Zone 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 assist the Employment Services Team by ensuring the smooth running of GBP, SBP and SCP placements, sending out bulletins and assisting with the running of training courses. I also assisted with the inputting and vetting of vacancies onto the Career Zone website.

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

I had the chance to get involved with the organisation of training events which developed my organisational skills. I also improved my communication skills through regularly dealing with both employers and students. The experience of working in an officer has also taught me to use my initiative and the importance of learning to prioritise tasks and activities.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was very flexible to cope with the differing demands on me from the different areas of work I was asked to carry out.

“Cathy was quick to learn and calm” – Employment Services Manager

cathythompson_160

Online Marketing Executive – Sanaa House

Advertising, Marketing and PR, Employer Feedback, Psychology,

Marketing Internship, University of Exeter Internship, UoE Internship, A2I, SCP, SBP, GBP

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

Sanaa House is a small local company selling African Artisan Products and was looking to transition from the retail to wholesale market. As Online Marketing Executive I had to promote the company through social media by setting up accounts and managing profiles with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I also created marketing campaigns and designed the web page to create the right company image and design the new catalogue.

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

The internship was a very hands on experience where I learnt a lot on the job. It gave me a good experience of working in a business in the real world. In particular I learnt about consulting with colleagues and how to deal with clients from external companies.

Due to the high level of responsibility I was given I have been able to create an impressive portfolio for my future career. The position helped me to develop good negotiation and team working skills.

“Employing Luke over the summer made a real difference to my company’s marketing plan. Luke is the best combination of an easy going team member and a motivated young professional” – Owner, Sanaa House

lukebristow

Intern – National Youth Services

Charity and Development Work, Psychology

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

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

I contributed to community development projects in Sri Lanka with SL volunteers; in partnership with The National Youth Services Council. The placement involved challenging situations demanding sensitivity to cross cultural communication and sensitivity. We had to adopt a mature leadership role through community teaching and social work with beneficiaries isolated through poverty.

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

Working abroad has shown me that I have the confidence to try new things and the ability to adapt to new surroundings. The work I was doing has helped to show that I have the mental strength and capability to work in difficult environments with often challenging situations. The most memorable part of my placement was working at the men’s special needs centre and seeing the reaction of the patients every time we arrived to run activities for them.

Assistant Buyer – Hunter Stoves

Computer Science, Psychology, Retail,

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

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

I spent most of my time researching potential markets for new business enterprises, statistically analysing data in order to operationalise the popularity of existing products, thus providing useful information on which features our product should include.

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

I normally find presentations difficult, but in the context of the job I was twice able to give confident presentations which my colleagues enjoyed and found extremely useful. This was the first time I have ever come away from a presentation feeling really good about my performance.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The team were able to enter a new market with confidence thanks to my research and advice, which was pivotal in determining their spending and choices.

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

Most of my work was done at a computer, and so to get a more hands-on feel for the industry I went and visited several showrooms in person.