December 19, 2023, by Arts Placements
The Perfect Placement for a Travel Lover
My Third Culture Nellie Placement Experience
By Daria Paterek
Before The Placement
Stepping into my last year of university, I was keen to continue growing my skillset despite the pressures of final year. I discovered the placement by browsing the School of English Placements Moodle page. Since my first year, I regularly check it out of curiosity. Reading about the placements offered in the autumn semester, the placement with Third Culture Nellie sparked my interest the most. Nellie is a travel influencer who focuses on simplifying and promoting budget and solo travel. Having travelled on a budget during my optional placement year, I related to Nellie’s mission. The application process was simple- a cover letter, CV, and quick interview later, Nellie’s 1-person team became a 2-person team.
During The Placement
As I undertook my placement year in social media, the placement was the perfect balance for me. I applied skills I learned beforehand and gained new ones in areas where I was not as experienced or confident. At the start of the placement, I was helping Nellie with high-priority tasks. This included scheduling posts, editing blogs, and writing social media captions. Since these tasks were ones I was familiar with and confident in, the beginning of my placement was a fantastic way to familiarise myself with Nellie’s ethos, her writing styles, and how to best work with Nellie to build her social media following.
After finishing some introductory tasks, Nellie asked me what I wanted to focus on and get out of the placement. The biggest skill I wanted to develop was my video editing skills. This is something I did not have much experience in but was keen to build before graduating. Consequently, Nellie allowed me access to her account on Cap Cut, a video editing software, and I started editing some short-term videos for her social media pages.
While I grew accustomed to the editing software, I also discovered tools such as Notion, an organisational tool that Nellie used for managing her content across all social media platforms. As I started understanding the benefits of the software, I began utilising it in my personal life to organise my professional and personal tasks.
After The Placement
While my placement was unpaid, I acquired lots of experience and only worked 5 hours a week. This meant the placement did not massively impact my workload. As a travel lover (who unfortunately paused travelling upon my return to university), the placement was perfect for me. It allowed me to develop social media and writing skills in an industry that I am extremely passionate about and would love to work on in the future. As someone who has undertaken multiple placements both with and outside of the School of English, I massively recommend reading your career emails and checking Moodle regularly to discover opportunities, as new ones appear all the time.
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