Student Case Study: Alumni Volunteering Assistant

Name of Student: Kimberley Denning

Degree Subject: Flexible Combined Honours with UK Work Exp 

Job Title:  Alumni Volunteering Assistant

Company Name:  Global Advancement, University of Exeter

Type of Internship:  Student Campus Partnerships (SCPs) 

  1. What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Responding to alumni volunteering offers, recording their offers and volunteering actions on Raisers Edge database, amending alumni’s details and data consent information on Raisers Edge database, and recording student’s family and friends form details onto an Excel spreadsheet.

  1. What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

I produced emails and input data in a systematic yet fast manner. Therefore I was able to help with more tasks such as inputting Alumni Relation Officer’s emails/tasks/actions onto Raisers Edge for them.

  1. What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

When I began my internship the online AUF query contained alumni offers dating back to August. These had to be input into Raisers Edge, and if consent was held, a pre-formatted email had to be sent to the alumni. I learnt the system quickly and set up ‘sticky notes’ on my desktop with the text so that I could promptly input the text. I was able to work through these meticulously and effectively so that I had more free time to offer to help others in the office when my workload was quieter.

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

On the first day of entering family and friends data into an Excel spreadsheet, the computer I was using popped up with a message saying that the programmes needed to be closed as something had failed. Then Excel froze, and shut-down while I was copying and pasting when I re-opened the page and continued to input the data, after a few entries I realised that the post-code field had moved up by one place. I went back over my last entries, creating a ‘filter’ search on the postcode field to find the entries which were affected.  I also included a note on the top of the field so that my colleague on the internship could see that she would have to enter future postcodes manually (in case she used it without me having a chance to explain what had happened). It was over a week before she used the spreadsheet and when I explained what you needed to do, I also explained what had happened and that she needed to be careful at a point in the spreadsheet where this error had occurred.

  1. Skills Learnt 
  • Communication
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Customer service
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Time and workload management
  1. Attributes Developed 
  • Personal awareness
  • Motivation
  • Confidence
  • Initiative
  • Perseverance
  1. Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

“I really enjoyed my internship within the University of Exeter. I am a mature student with previous work experience, however this was all gained within the private sector. I really enjoyed the new environment, enthusiasm for the cause shown by the staff, and rewarding work.”