Internship Expectations vs. Reality: A Student's Perspective

Lauren joined PlotBox nine weeks ago as a Summer Intern, and when she isn’t busy working, you’ll find her at the beach or exploring new coffee shops with her friends.

When we think of summer, the first thing our minds wander to is the sunshine, holidays, and BBQs at the beach. But for many of us students, the word ‘internship’ is often thrown around with the idea that our summers have disappeared to work in a dull office and make coffees for our colleagues. 

Well, I can tell you that this certainly has not been the case at PlotBox. In May 2022, I applied for a three month position at PlotBox as a Summer Marketing Intern. Overjoyed at the news that I had secured the job, I was excited to get started and gain some practical experience in the marketing world. However, I will admit I was just as equally terrified! What if they didn’t like me? What if I wasn’t good enough for this job? What if I was subjected to making coffees, or whatever the virtual equivalent is to that?

However, as I walked into the bright and spacious ECOS centre on my first day, my nerves were instantly dissolved as I was warmly greeted by my team leader and was introduced to the job and the rest of the team, who welcomed me with enthusiasm. As the job role and tasks were laid out in front of me, I knew straight away that I would play a proactive role in the company and be thrown into the deep end - which suits me perfectly!

One thing that has been clearly apparent in PlotBox is the focus on people. From the get-go, I was asked what I want to gain from this experience and was provided with time and resources to gain an Inbound Marketing Qualification, alongside in-job tasks that would also contribute to my university experience, such as lead generation and completing and presenting a website analysis. Being assigned these tasks showed me that PlotBox truly cared about my development as I was given ownership over my work and was shown that it was having a real-world impact in both business development and gaining new customers.

Alongside this, the support PlotBox offered me throughout this journey has been invaluable. The work was super flexible as I worked in the office one day a week, with the rest of the week working remotely. This let me work independently and use my initiative to organise my tasks and thoughts, however, my team made sure to have regular communication and check-ins to make sure I was okay and to answer any questions that I had, which were many! 

As I come to the end of my internship, I can say with certainty that accepting this role with PlotBox was one of the best decisions that I’ve made. As I return to the third year of my studies, I will hold the experience that I gained at PlotBox in good stead as I progress with my next two years of university. I have enjoyed working for a local business that is progressively developing into more global markets, and I can genuinely say that I am excited to see the company's continuing success in the future. In other words, I could not recommend PlotBox enough and I want to thank them for this amazing experience of starting my career in the marketing world!

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