October 23, 2023, by Arts Placements

Why you should apply for a placement

Third year English student, Amelia Shipley, reflects on her placement experiences

Thinking about your future career can be exciting, or extremely stressful… For me, it has always been stress-inducing. What industry am I interested in? What kind of job is my dream job? What will I do with my degree? These are all questions I asked myself in first and second year of university. It didn’t help that everyone I met seemed to also demand the answers to these questions, or just assume that I wanted to be a teacher as I study English.

Placement One

I decided to take matters into my own hands and applied for several different internships. In April, I secured a marketing placement with Beeston Parish Church. Here, I redesigned their website, informative leaflets and logo. I had briefly considered a career in marketing, but this placement made me realise that I really enjoyed website design and marketing.

Creative Placement Programme – Placement Two

When I saw the Creative Placement scheme advertised, I applied with a view to expanding my marketing industry skills and knowledge. I managed to get to the interview stage and before I knew it, I was working at Lakeside Arts for five weeks over the summer. Lakeside is the the university’s art centre, which hosts exhibitions, music shows and theatre. The perfect place for an English student, I have to admit.

My internship at Lakeside was far longer than my placement at the Parish Church and also situated in an office, instead of being remote. I loved the social aspect of working at Lakeside. Everyone there is really friendly and I felt I integrated very quickly into the professional environment. It helped that my manager was wonderful. She was so supportive and helpful throughout the five weeks.

What I did

As a marketing intern, I created social media content on Instagram and Facebook. I designed promotional emails that were sent out to thousands of people.  In addition I updated Lakeside’s entire press list and formed relationships with local press… I could go on and on as I achieved so much in just over a month. I have documented my journey on LinkedIn, so feel free to have a look!

My Highlight

My personal highlight was working on a project to increase student engagement at Lakeside Arts. Despite university funding, many students are unaware of Lakeside’s wonderful galleries and arts events. My task was to change this by creating social content targeted at students, which is now live. Check out Lakeside’s social media to see some of the videos I created.

I decided the best way to target students was by working with students – my fellow interns. Working collaboratively with them was my favourite part of my project, as I got to know some really genuine and creative people. I didn’t really consider the social benefits of this internship, but I have grown so much in confidence even in these five weeks because of the lovely people I have met. So, my top tip for students interested in placements would be: apply. Just do it and don’t look back.

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