A Short Introduction About Me – Hannah
I am a student doing a week of work experience on social media marketing at drumBEAT Marketing UK. I have thoroughly been enjoying my time here, it has been a whole new experience to learning in a class room. I really enjoy art and design as well as IT in and out of school. Prior to coming here, I had no idea what work experience would be like, never mind working. I haven’t finished my work experience yet, however I already have a better understanding of the world of work and what is expected of me. I started doing my work experience from 10am to 3pm but ended up enjoying it so much I asked to come in at 9am (which is something I never thought I would say).
Why I Chose drumBEAT
At first, I was uncertain about where to go for my work experience. I knew I wanted to do something I enjoy and know a bit about, so I searched for art and design companies in Gainsborough. Design and creativity are a thing I’m confident with and enjoy doing inside school as well as in my spare time. I saw drumBEAT and they do web design, I was intrigued by the media aspect as I know a lot about social media and technology however I wanted to see what it was like from a business aspect. I then requested to do my work experience and got a very exciting email saying they had accepted me.
What I Have Done
On my first day I was introduced to the team and we had a short meeting to plan for the week ahead. I have to say it was a strange experience for me as it was all very alien, at school I don’t get much of a chance to be as independent as on work experience and it is extremely different to school classroom environment. Since everyone was so nice and it was such a relaxed environment I very quickly felt at ease.
I was given a quick introduction and told about a client I would be helping to manage. I was given a couple research tasks (at my own desk) that showed me a bit more about what they do. I then had the very exciting task of creating an August content calendar on Excel. I had to include things such as graphics for upcoming national days.
The second day I finished the content calendar and started on my ‘graphic’ designs on Canva (which I must admit, they took me a lot longer then I expected). I used Pixabay and Shutterstock to find my background photos. I realised I am a bit of a perfectionist, so it took me forever to find the perfect text and image to put together.
On the third day I finished off my graphics and was shown how to use a program called Hootsuite, which was so clever, it meant I could schedule when my graphics would be posted.
On Thursday, I wrote a blog for a client on ‘The Benefits of Work Experience for Companies’. I created more graphics for the blog as well. I also wrote this blog as a final task.
How Work Experience Has Benefited Me
I will be leaving my work experience with better ideas on what I want to do in the future, I know I would like to stay on in this field, and now I also have a better understanding of what qualifications I will need in the future. Not only have I enjoyed my time doing the tasks, I have also enjoyed my time with the staff here, they are all really helpful and fun to be around.
I believe it has also improved my talking skills as I came in quite shy and quiet, however they have all been so nice I feel like I’m part of the staff and it has made my time here so much more enjoyable. I believe that every young person should have an experience like I have, I believe it will help me greatly in the future.
Why Should Students Have Access to Work Experience?
Everyone should have access to a work experience placement. It shows required skills for the work place and people should know what they enjoy, as they will spend most of their life working. Young people are more likely to be successful in their job hunt if they have done some good work experience. The student can sample career options without committing to anything. It’s the best way to get a real sense of your chosen industry.
You can talk to employees and ask them questions you want to know. It shows passion and interest, it also shows the employer motivation. It is a gentle introduction to the world of work and it gives you an idea of the skills needed to thrive in the workplace.
