Student Blog

Read Jessica’s interview below to find out what she thought of her placement with Oliver’s Travels.

Course: BA (Hons) Communication and Media

Why did you come to BU? I went there in the first year of college and fell in love with the town and when I discovered it did media with a year placement option I was determined to go.

Me next to the Oliver’s Travel sign

Why did you choose to do a sandwich placement year? I felt that the experience would be good for my CV. It has also made me grow and mature as a person. I now feel calm and ready to complete my final year, and work harder than I would have if I hadn’t completed this placement. I now know what I need to do to get to where I want to be. This is something I was unaware of before taking the placement, but is something every student should be told about the importance of the year.

Placement job title, company and city: Marketing Intern, Oliver’s Travels, London

Describe your job role: As a marketing intern, my role is completing various admin work for the marketing team, such as sending off magazine mailers and taking care of other tasks that every intern will have to do at some point. However, most of the time I have been doing actual work that contributes to my skills.

I have been editing and finding images to be used on the blog post, which has increased my Photoshop skills and helped me learn about various programmes such as Dropbox, Pixlr and many more which I can now add to my CV. I have been using WordPress which Bournemouth University taught me how to use. This was an absolute god send as this also helped me secure the job role.

I have also been updating old blog posts and even had the opportunity to complete some of my very own blog posts for the site, which was very rewarding. This has been the most helpful as, with help from the copywriter, I have increased my writing skills and finally got rid of my waffling habits, which will not only improve my writing for future companies, but will help considerably when writing essays and doing coursework in my final year.

What have been some of the highlights so far? The main highlights for me are the people I have met and the friends that I have made, especially with the other intern from Bournemouth. It has also increased my confidence in the workplace by an incredibly large amount. Before, I would have been nervous to speak to the boss or too shy to ask questions that could be considered ‘dumb’; even answering the phone was tricky. Now these things don’t even cross my mind and I really do feel like a part of the team here and not just a student; it feels very real.

What has been the greatest challenge this year? My organisational skills have never been great and under the pressure to please, I have been forced to change my skills for the better, which has been stressful at times but in the end will help me improve my performance in the future.

Has the experience so far helped you to learn more about what you want to do in the future? Yes, this experience has helped me realise what I don’t want to do in the future and aspects of a business which I like and do not like. It has also helped me understand the different roles of advertising, marketing and PR, which are the three areas I wanted to explore. I now understand the roles of these job titles and what they will expect from each team in the work environment, which has been very helpful in determining which area I would like to enter as a career.

Any regrets in taking a placement year? I have absolutely no regrets in taking this placement year; I am actually very sad that it is coming to an end! There are only benefits to doing the placement year; you really will not understand the feeling of achievement, confidence and how much you will grow unless you do it. It has completely changed my outlook on work as I now believe it is possible to work 5 days a week, 9-5. Before placement all I did was dread working life, but now I’ve realised it is actually quite fun and there are perks to keep you motivated.

Questions for your supervisor Natasja Rasmussen:

How has it been having Jessica on your team? Jessica has been a great addition to the team here at Oliver’s Travels. She is very bright and has picked up tasks quickly and assisted with a variety of work given by the different members of the marketing team.

What separated her from the rest of the candidates? Jessica showed a keen interest in travel, writing and photography, which were some of the key attributes we were looking for in the marketing intern. She also wrote a great cover letter/email to support her CV, which detailed why she thought she would be good for the role.

When looking at CVs for placement, what 3 things do you expect to see?

I like to see what systems they are familiar with already (i.e Photoshop, WordPress etc.)
Any other marketing/work-related skills they may possess, even if these were attained during their university projects (i.e. copywriting, social media, seo etc.)
It is also fantastic to get a cover letter/email to see what it is about the role that attracted them to it specifically and why they think they may be a good fit.

Will you continue to take on student placements? Absolutely! Jessica is our second student placement from Bournemouth University and we have also taken on overseas students in the past, which has also worked out well.

We find students are committed, reliable and are really willing to get involved in a variety of different tasks as they like to gain plenty of hands-on experience to help them for future rules.

www.oliverstravels.com

Jessica’s LinkedIn profile

These blogs are produced by students, for prospective students, to reflect topics in which we think you will be interested. Our student bloggers work with Bournemouth University when producing any content. However, the university cannot be held liable for its accuracy and the views expressed are their own, and do not necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University. Please contact us at futurestudents@bournemouth.ac.uk to report any content considered offensive.