August 7, 2016, by Danny Bav
Summer Internship pt. 1
Moving to London!
So I’m sitting on a train from Birmingham to London and thought I’d kill the time by writing my next blog post. I’m moving to London for a short summer internship with Deloitte for 5 weeks and I’m crazily excited! Oh… and of course a bit nervous too, but I guess nerves are natural!
I remember learning about internships in my first year when the word ‘spring internship’ was thrown around my lecture hall. At the time I didn’t know what people were raving about, but turns out year 1 spring internships are a thing. Following this, I applied to Deloitte and got onto their spring internship. It was a great experience, I learnt a lot and it fast-tracked me to a summer internship which is what I’m about to experience in the upcoming weeks.
After my internship, I remember wanting to explore my options further, so I talked to somebody from the careers office about what kind of paths I could take (seriously, they’re great to just chat with about the future)! Anyway, during this meeting I was invited to help promote spring internships after having done one and I gladly accepted the invitation.
To set the scene, it was 6pm on a Friday after a Microeconomics lecture, and everyone was tired and ready to get home. The lecturer apparently ‘forgot’ that we were coming in to do a talk for the last 10 minutes, so we had to quickly intervene between the lecture ending and people packing away to go home. As you’d expect it was difficult to get to people to stay and listen to what we had to say, there was loads of noise and people were already leaving, ignoring that we were trying to get their attention. However, we had a good number stay – roughly about 80%. The woman I was doing the presentation with said to the remaining students: ‘those 20% that have left, well there’s 20% of your competition gone, so well done for staying!’
It made me chuckle, but it also taught me that it’s always valuable to listen out to what people have to say – you might just realise there’s an opportunity around the corner.
Swaying away from the anecdote, why are internships worth it and why should you do one?
I’m a firm believer of WHO you know being almost as important as WHAT you know these days and internships are there to give you that opportunity to connect with people. You gain experience in a field that interests you and have the opportunity to network and possible have a grad job in your back pocket for when you graduate. A good place to start to find internships is the Employability and Careers fair in Nottingham at the EMCC. They hold this once a year I believe and lots of employers come in to advertise their schemes for students. In addition, they usually bring back Nottingham alumni or grad students, so you can chat to them about what they’ve experience within the company. Apart from that, the careers service is available or just looking online at companies that interest you can be a great start!
I’m excited to start my internship and experience the London working life, and by the time I write my next blog I’ll reflect on what I’ve learnt so far.
Stay tuned!
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