Lucy Reast is currently a student at the University of Leeds and has only just begun her digital journey. With little digital experience she decided to gain some work experience, spending a month in award-winning digital agency Jaywing.
I am a student at the University of Leeds studying International Business and Marketing. I’m at the end of my internship at Jaywing gaining a month’s insight into the world of a digital marketing agency. As part of this internship I have gained experience in PR, brand communications and spent time within the studio looking at website development and CRO.
Prior to interning at Jaywing my digital experience was very limited. I had managed a twitter account for a cyber security business creating content, scheduling posts and building awareness for their business through the platform. This was the extent of my digital knowledge. Despite growing up in a digital world, I felt that my digital skills were lacking. Although digital is a massively important and growing sector, often schools and universities overlook the importance of equipping students with the necessary digital skills.
Although digital is a massively important and growing sector, often schools and universities overlook the importance of equipping students with the necessary digital skills.
This is why I chose to spend time interning at Jaywing. As one of the largest and most successful marketing agencies in the North with clients such as Doritos, Pepsi and Asda, I regarded it as a great place to gain some really good experience.
In university, it can be daunting to know what career paths to follow. Therefore work experience provided me a way of exploring different pathways and career options.
Entering an integrated marketing agency with a diverse range of services from optimisation, PR and paid social to advertising and UX, design and website build meant that I could really understand the different components of a digital marketing agency.
During my time at Jaywing I have been able to work on a huge number of different projects, enabling me to understand the tailored approach each client requires.
Within JaywingPR I was able to write blog posts and guides, conduct client research, form media lists and take part in brain storms for future creative campaigns. I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of the work, with teams working together to generate awareness for brands.
Whilst in Brand Communications I spent time within the digital marketing team, undertaking competitor analysis for one of their clients - understanding how they present themselves on social media platforms. I also got the chance to gain some digital knowledge attending research, marketing, analytics and social media workshops.
These gave me a really good core understanding of the different digital tools available to those in marketing agencies in order to optimise the performance of their clients. Whilst in the studio I will have benefited from an insight into design, video and animation, website development, project management and marketing and sales.
From interning I’ve learnt that there is a lot of scope and opportunity in digital as a graduate. The opportunities available are diverse and exciting. Therefore I want to keep on expanding my digital skills and will seek out opportunities and resources that help me develop this knowledge. Jaywing has provided me with a great way to see what areas I could go into if I pursued a digital career path.
From interning I’ve learnt that there is a lot of scope and opportunity in digital as a graduate. The opportunities available are diverse and exciting.
I would definitely recommend applying for work experience to students. It’s a great way of providing you with some direction for the future, develops skills and looks really good on your CV.
My advice would be to use your contacts, the phrase it’s not what you know, it's who you know can often be very true when finding work experience. Therefore going through friends and family who may have contacts can be very beneficial. Also using linkedin is also a really good platform for networking.
My advice would be to use your contacts, the phrase it’s not what you know, it's who you know can often be very true when finding work experience.
Attending workshops and talks from businesses at University is also invaluable, often the speakers are very accommodating for setting up work experience. Gaining work experience can sometimes be tricky, but the effort is worth it, as it illustrates to future employers that you have taken the initiative to seek out opportunities.
