Landing my Internship While Studying

After completing my final year of studying BA Events Management at the University of Northampton, I’ve had an exciting start to my marketing internship at Pilkington Communications. My time at university has truly flown by and I feel that I have been able to push my potential in so many ways, which gave me the skills and experience to begin my internship.

In my second year of studying, two other students and I organised a charity ball in aid of Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group. After gathering sponsors and donations, we were able to secure the Hilton Hotel in Northampton as our venue. Luckily, as a collective group, we were all very creative and were able to craft all of the decor ourselves, including a flower wall. In order to raise money alongside entrance fees, we had a raffle and auction which included extremely high-end prizes, including a boxing experience with Frank Bruno.

Our marketing campaign included designing and producing print ad flyers, radio interviews, social media marketing and ticket give aways. In total, we raised £2,793.83 and it has been my most successful event thus far. Planning the ball required a lot of problem solving and taught me how to work effectively under pressure. Many attendees requested the event to be an annual occasion but unfortunately, due to Covid-19, we were unable to do so.

During my final year of studying, I did a lot of volunteer work for local weddings and events companies. First, I worked for a small local company who required assistance with their event administration work. I also produced several marketing materials for them, such as client information packs. I was then put in touch with one of their sister wedding venues and asked to manage their social media accounts for six weeks. I created their content, copywriting, blogs for their website and scheduled their content. This experience allowed me to become extremely knowledgeable about social media insights, Canva and various scheduling platforms.

When I received the internship advert, I immediately began preparing my application. My skills in marketing have developed very quickly during my studies and it is a subject that I thoroughly enjoy. I applied for the internship as I wanted to continue developing my marketing skills to a broader range.

Pilkington Communications have been extremely welcoming, and I look forward to working on some exciting projects with them. Besides from making great connections, I look forward to developing my marketing skills further in a way that will prepare me for the next steps towards building a career. I have been accepted to complete a Marketing Management MSc degree at De Montfort University, Leicester. Although my course at the University of Northampton included marketing modules, and I have existing industry experience, I am eager to learn in more depth and detail. I feel that my internship will be the perfect preparation for my masters’ degree.