At my school, we have a week of taking part in a work experience placement, I came to Loughborough University at their Marketing and Advancement team to experience the different roles of the department. On the build-up to work experience I was very nervous, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, I thought I would spend most of my time shadowing a member of the team. However, when I arrived at the Hazlerigg Building, I was immediately greeted by Hannah who introduced me to everyone who was in the office and then spoke to me about my placement and made sure I was doing tasks that I wanted to do. This gave me a huge sense of relief. I automatically felt very comfortable in the office. As I was settling in, I was surprised at how welcoming everyone in the team was as I was expecting a much smaller group of people who kept to themselves, but members of staff introduced themselves to me and asked me a few questions about myself which gave me a sense of comfort that I wasn’t expecting that quickly.
During my week here I’ve been given so many different opportunities ranging from office work to seeing the behind the scenes of television filming. Everyone has made me feel very included and offered me a wide variety of activities to do. One of my most memorable activities would be watching ITV film a piece on the impacts of heat on the body in the University’s heat chambers and the impact of the World Cup games on our sleep. This was such an amazing experience for me as I got to meet some of ITV’s crew and see how the news I watch is created from setting up the camera and starting the interview to the final process of being able to watch it on the TV. This was something I’ve always been very interested in and gave me such a valuable insight that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise experienced. On top of this I’ve also been included into team meetings about projects the University have been working on, and by watching these and taking part I’ve seen how valuable the work this department does, and how many people it takes to complete a job, I’ve also really enjoyed seeing how close of a relationship everyone has in this team and how in the meetings they celebrate everyone’s achievements. I’ve felt very valued in my experience here especially with certain tasks such as working with the social media team and them allowing me to film videos, edit them and come up with a caption for them to post on the University’s social media, they let me take control but provided support if needed which gave me the independence to learn about their role, which is something else I really enjoyed.
In just one week I’ve learnt so many new things, I’ve learnt about all the data that the team uses to ensure students who are looking to come to universities are engaged, I’ve seen how much effort this department gives to provide the best possible experience for students who go to Loughborough University, from working on the graduation programmes and ensuring they are perfect too ensuring the social media pages are including the right posts for students. I’ve also seen how many different teams and roles it takes to create a project for the university and how time consuming it is, especially when sat in meetings and seeing them discuss in detail how much they are doing for them to go ahead. I’ve learnt a variety of skills one being how the social media team edit, find their content and how they ensure that the posts provide enough description to be informative. Throughout this I’ve developed many new skills a key one being working with a team especially new teams. I usually tend to stick with people I know but this week has pushed me out of my comfort zone and put me into situations where I’ve been meeting and working with new people every day which has been such a good experience as it has made me realise that meeting new people isn’t scary especially within this team as everyone here is so welcoming. As a result, my communication skills have improved as I’ve become more open and less scared to ask for help as I know everyone here will be happy to assist me.
Currently I’m mid-way through my A-Levels as a Year 12 student at a local sixth form, I’m studying Media, Psychology and Business, with my favourite subject being media. At this stage of my education I’m considering my next steps, for this I’m looking at University, specifically a Media and Communications course or I’m looking at the BBC degree apprenticeship as it will give me real word experience in the media sector. This placement has given me more of an insight into the real-world experience and has reinforced my idea that I want to go into the Media sector as a job when I’m older and there are so many opportunities this can lead me into. I’ve seen such a wide variety of roles I could see myself in, but also working at a University has also shown me what the university life is like and has influenced me more into considering going to University and acting on the application process for next year and visiting them through their open days so I can learn more about the environment there.
Overall, I’ve greatly enjoyed my experience here at Loughborough University and would heavily recommend to any student to try work experience, especially here at Loughborough! One thing I would say to someone who is considering work experience is to make the most of every opportunity you have been given, even if you don’t think you will find it interesting, because everything can be learned from. What I’ll most remember about my placement here are the number of opportunities I’ve had with the amount of different people who have shown me them, which has really broadened my view on the media sector as a job and lead me to leave this placement with a more definitive view of what I want to do in the future.