Tomorrow is National Opportunity Day, here at the HR Dept South London we wanted to highlight how we have benefited from the opportunity arising from the University of Sussex Internship Programme.
Wind back to early 2023 when we advertised an internship opportunity on the career and events website provided by the University for students and recent graduates. Wind forward to July 2023 and we have Abbie Collins working with us for eight weeks as a Marketing Assistant. Abbie has just finished her second year studying Media and Communications at Sussex.
In a short time, Abbie has understood the nature of the business and worked out how to apply her skills and knowledge. She has used her creative skills to improve our marketing communications and our social media sites (please do take a look, they really do look great now!). Abbie has helped us create online surveys and is leading on a campaign to help us raise money for charity.
It’s been a pleasure to work with Abbie who has brought us fresh ideas and we’ve really enjoyed helping her learn about business. We know that Abbie has enjoyed her time with us so far and she will highlight how she has also benefited from the opportunity, over to you Abbie.
When I was first thinking about how I wanted to spend my summer I knew I wanted to get an internship, I wanted to continue to develop my skills in marketing and gain experience working in an office. I can successfully say that I have gained those skills and more at the HR Dept South London.
So far, I have researched, created, and scheduled social media posts across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have also developed my email marketing skills through using our system called Astonish to advertise seminars and webinars, I have no prior experience in email marketing, so I am excited that I have developed this skill and use of Astonish. Additionally, I am getting insight into event planning through assisting the HR Dept in the Community campaign, all to be announced soon…
Alongside this, I have learnt a lot about HR as an industry and learnt about the inner workings of the company. I have also been able to gain connections and network with marketing and PR professionals across the HR Dept Network. This internship has also demonstrated to me what a supportive team and good employer looks like which will set me in good stead for the rest of my career.
I could not have chosen an internship that would have supported me more or that has enabled me to grow as much, I have lived in Sutton my entire life pre-university and I cannot believe that an opportunity like this was just sitting at my doorstep. I cannot thank Helen and the team enough.
