Category Archives: Employer Feedback

Employer Case Study: Coldharbour Mill Trust Limited

Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Green Consultants, Internship Schemes, Management and Consultancy, , , ,

Name of Organisation:  Coldharbour Mill Trust Limited

Description of Organisation: Coldharbour Mill is one of the oldest woollen mills in the UK having been in continuous production since 1797. Originally owned by world-renowned textile producers Fox Brothers, the Mill took fleece from all over the world and transformed it into yarn, cloth and textiles. Today the rich heritage lives on as one of the finest working wool museums where visitors are not just able to relive the sights and sounds of the industrial revolution but also see crafts men and women making traditional textiles, beautiful knitting yarn and hand-woven rugs.

Name of Employer:  Peter Holdway-Bradely

Job Title: General Manager

Internship Scheme used: Green Consultants 

Feedback:

“We recruited an intern to work as a Green Consultant. He created a great carbon impact report which encompassed the work we currently do, what we could do in the future and some areas we had not yet thought of tackling.

He was very focused and dealt well with some of the areas where company knowledge or historical information was difficult to find. The intern was hard-working, focused and determined – and even pushed through when there were challenges in finding the correct information to analyse for the report.

We were very happy with the student’s work and with this experience and we hope that our intern would be able to say the same. Carbon Neutrality is something that the Board of Trustees is setting as an aim for the trust, and the Green Consultants work will be a great starting point as we embark on a more structured and focussed approach to our impact on the environment.

The scheme itself was very easy to work with and a great resource for organisations such as us, who may lack funds to focus on some of these key topics if this scheme wasn’t available. I would highly recommend the Green Consultant Programme to other companies.”

Employer Case Study: London Borough of Sutton Council

Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Green Consultants, Internship Schemes, Management and Consultancy, ,

Name of Organisation:  London Borough of Sutton Council

Description of Organisation: London Borough of Sutton Council offers a range of statutory services to the local community.

Name of Employer:  Katrina Lloyd

Job Title: Sustainability Manager

Internship Scheme used: Green Consultants

Feedback:

“We recruited an intern to work as a Green Consultant. The intern worked on a number of pieces of work including a schools food waste project where she was contacting schools to identify what collections were in place, who would be interested in a service and identifying suitable contractors to deliver the service.

The intern also complied a comprehensive set of data and statistics to support our communications work as well as, researching free and easy to access recycling schemes to promote to residents.

We had some minor technical difficulties, but the student borrowed a friend’s laptop and was able to overcome them quickly – usual problems with working at home and on new platforms.

The Green Consultants programme is a great experience, we have always been provided with an excellent calibre of student who have been hard working and delivered great results.”

Employer Case Study: ClearLead Consulting Ltd

Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Green Consultants, Internship Schemes, Management and Consultancy, , , ,

Name of Organisation:  ClearLead Consulting Ltd

Description of Organisation: ClearLead Consulting is an international energy and sustainability consulting company founded in 2012, with offices in Canada, the UK, and Ireland.  ClearLead takes pride in giving our clients straight, practical advice and support, with a commitment to conduct work that is useful and makes a difference to clients.

ClearLead specialises in helping commercial, industrial and public sector clients reduce their energy costs, operate more sustainably and comply with complex environmental regulation, both in the UK and internationally.  ClearLead aims to lead by example and are therefore working to become carbon neutral as a company.

ClearLead’s services in the sustainability and energy field include corporate sustainability and carbon neutrality/net zero strategies and assessments; Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) audits; energy audits and surveys; energy metering and monitoring systems; renewable feasibility studies and appraisals; resource efficiency (water and waste) programmes; carbon footprinting; training and behavioural change management programmes.

For more information, please see http://clearleadconsulting.com/.

Name of Employer:  Dave Covell

Job Title: Director

Internship Scheme used: Green Consultants 

Feedback:

“We recruited an intern to work as a Green Consultant. Over the three weeks that our intern was with us he did a huge variety of different tasks that contributed to client work both fee earning and proposal writing as well as, improving some of the calculations for our internal carbon footprint in work.

The covid restrictions were probably the biggest obstacle to our intern’s time with us was that the restrictions impaired his ability to meet and get to know the team. However, the student worked admirably in building relationships through Teams and Zoom with the key folk in the business in very difficult circumstances which was very admirable.

As a result of this internship, we offered our intern an extension as we were so impressed with his work. We were very happy to welcome him to our team. I highly recommend the University of Exeter internship scheme to all businesses, we found it extremely valuable.”

Student Quote:

“The internship has opened my eyes to the importance of work experience. It has given me a far broader understanding of the standards expected in the workplace and identified crucial gaps in my knowledge that academia struggles to cover. The value of work experience cannot be overstated, and I encourage graduates in any discipline to investigate these kinds of opportunities as a means of improving their employability.”

Student Blog:

Clearleadconsulting.com/news/posts/clearlead-consulting-internship-experience-may-2021/

Employer Case Study: Appen 

Employer Feedback, Environmental Work, Green Consultants, Information Technology, Internship Schemes, Management and Consultancy, , , ,

Name of Organisation:  Appen

Description of Organisation: Appen collects and labels images, text, speech, audio, video, and other data used to build and continuously improve the world’s most innovative artificial intelligence systems. Our expertise includes having a global crowd of over 1 million skilled contractors who speak over 235 languages, in over 70,000 locations and 170 countries, and the industry’s most advanced AI-assisted data annotation platform. Our reliable training data gives leaders in technology, automotive, financial services, retail, healthcare, and governments the confidence to deploy world-class AI products. Founded in 1996, Appen has customers and offices globally.

Name of Employer: Morag Van Niekerk

Job Title: Business Operations Manager

Internship Scheme used: Green Consultants

Feedback:

“We recruited an intern to work as a Green Consultant as we were developing our Sustainability policy over the next year and the internship would provide great support with this piece of work.

The student looked into how we can catalyse good practice across our sites. She also calculated our GHG emissions and created a waste management plan and environmental policy. This was completed to a very high standard.

The whole experience has been a very positive experience for the company. Our intern’s knowledge and skills exceeded our expectations and she contributed considerably to our new ESG, Sustainability and Impact initiative. With her input we have completed our Scope 1 and 2 GHG inventory calculations. I would highly recommend the Green Consultants Scheme, we found it very valuable.”

Student Case Study: University of Exeter: Child Health Group – Institute for Health Research    

Access to Internships (A2I), Education, Education, Teaching and Research, Employer Feedback, Health Care, Psychology, , , ,

Name of Student:  Rebecca Bates

Degree Subject: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery

Job Title: Research Assistant

Company Name: University of Exeter: Child Health Group – Institute for Health Research

Type of Internship: Access to Internships (A2I) 

Description of Company: The Child Health and Wellbeing Research Network brings together researchers across the University of Exeter that conduct research in the area of children’s health and wellbeing. The network spans many of the University’s colleges and represents 13 different groups, all with related work in this important field of enquiry. It was formed to ensure that strong collaboration and inter-disciplinary thinking and skills are at the heart of the research conducted, for the benefit of children and young people.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

My key duties and responsibilities during my internship were research data analysis, report writing, proofreading and preparing a conference presentation.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I presented our research at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s annual conference. I also began work on national paper grown from the data analysis done on local data (I will be an author on the former, and lead author of the latter) – up to two PubMed papers can be taken into account during the Foundation Application process (the process you must undertake to be allocated a job after medical school), and being able to work on two so early will mean that I will have these reviewed and published by the time I am applying.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Situation: Annual conference of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Task: Presenting the research and data I had been working on

Actions: Preparing presentation, trial run with research team for feedback,

Result: Successful presentation in which I “didn’t seem like a medical student”, including two contacts made after which will hopefully lead to research links. This will also be relevant all the way through to my specialty applications as I have now presented at a national conference.

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

I was very lucky in that no major challenges spring to mind, and any small queries and blips were well handled by my supportive supervisor – even down to worrying about the cost of travel to the conference resulting in this being covered by the team.

I had been worried my ADHD would preclude me from being successful in research but the structure the team provided meant that I was able to meet crucial deadlines such as being prepared for the conference and succeed in a way I could not have imagined at the start of my degree.

Skills Learnt 

  •  Ability to Work Under Pressure
  • Organisation
  • Time and Work Load Management
  • Strategic Planning
  • Focus on Goals and Outcomes

Attributes Developed 

  • Personal awareness
  • Cultural awareness
  • Logical thinking
  • Creative thinking
  • Independence

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

“My internship has helped me truly accept that there can be a place for me in research, as someone with ADHD – a dream I thought I’d have to give up when I first realised that not everything comes as easy to me as it does to others. It also meant I could afford to take the time to get my presentation right, and play a significant role in the writing of the paper, based on my data analysis – meaning I could see it through from beginning to end. I am so grateful for the opportunity and hope I can find a way to afford to continue this journey.”

Employer Case Study: Spoton.net Limited 

Advertising, Marketing and PR, Degree subject, Employer Feedback, Internship Schemes, Student Business Partnership (SBP), , , , ,

Name of Organisation:   Spoton.net Limited 

Description of Organisation: Established in 2008, we’re an experienced and creative web design company with a specialist team of website design, web development, and technical support experts. 

As a franchise, we’re able to offer our web design services to businesses throughout the UK and Ireland via our network of local consultants. Every website is then created by the team here in Devon. 

Name of Employer:  Amy Cross-Webber 

Job Title: Marketing Manager 

Internship Scheme used:  SBP 

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

Feedback:  

We recruited an intern as Marketing Assistant. She researched and written several blog posts that are published on itseeze.com – many have a high number of views and lengthy read times and exit rates suggesting people coming to our site and engaged by these blog posts written by our brilliant Exeter student. 

I honestly cannot fault our intern and everything she did. Our intern wished to continue studying – otherwise she is highly employable, and we would have certainly considered offering her a full-time role and still hope to in the future. 

We had a very positive experience – our intern proved to be a highly valuable member of our team. Her work ethic and creative writing skills impressed us from the outset. She fitted in perfectly with our team. We are incredibly grateful to have her as part of our team for the past 9 months – an absolute asset. 

Employer Case Study: Start Here Marketing 

Access to Internships (A2I), Advertising, Marketing and PR, Degree subject, Employer Feedback, Internship Schemes, , ,

Name of Organisation:  Start Here Marketing

Description of Organisation:    

A content marketing consultancy with a conscience, specialists in working with startup and small business, and are especially passionate about social and ethical enterprises. We believe doing good is good for business. 

Name of Employer:  Charli Ferrand 

Job Title:  Founder and Director  

Internship Scheme used:  A2I  

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

Feedback:  

We recruited an intern who took on a variety of tasks for a variety of clients, from data work (key word analysis, social media and earned media reporting); through to content marketing activities (blog writing, content calendar development); and social media community management. She worked across clients from B2B and B2C industries. The intern completed all work to a very high standard, and I really enjoyed having her work within my team.  

The internship scheme is an excellent pathway to connect with some of the brightest young minds at Exeter University. Not only are you getting the opportunity to work with passionate, driven students, but you also have an opportunity to ‘pay it forward’. Throughout my career, I’ve been inspired by good managers and mentors. I have now worked with two female interns who weren’t sure about their careers post-university. Because of their internships, both have now landed jobs in marketing. As a female business founder and director, it makes me proud to support the next generation of women leaders in marketing.  

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.