“There is no substitute really for learning about the world of work and being in the world of work. You can do that through internships. You can do it through summer job experiences or even from volunteer jobs in your local community. Strive early to get some kind of practical work experience.”
So said Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labour in the Bill Clinton administration. It's with this in mind that the Institute has enrolled an intern for the next six weeks. Agatha will be working here in the marketing department and to shed a bit of light on the kind of things she's working on, the new things she's learning and of course what we're up to here at the Institute she will be writing a diary of her time here. By way of introducing Agatha to you all I asked her a few questions about how the internship came about and her plans.
AG: Hi Agatha, welcome to the CMI
AS: Hi Adi, it's great to be here.
AG: How did the Internship come about?
AS: I heard that the marketing director at the CMI was looking for a student to come into the marketing department to look at the strategy and analyse the effectiveness of things, help out with the new website (it's gonna be great folks - AG). It sounded really interesting so I put my name into the ring. I came in to speak over the position with him a few weeks ago and it's all gone from there.
AG: Have you worked in marketing before?
AS: No but it's something that's always interested me. I'm studying English at the moment and press and marketing is a big interest of mine. The CMI are very business orientated so I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn new things, add to my cv and to network with some interesting people.
AG: What are your plans after this?
AS: I'm just looking to gain as much experience and understanding of various elements of business so that I can specialise for the masters degree that I'll hopefully do after I graduate.
AG: What will your intern diary contain?
AS: I'll be doing a diary of the things I'm working on during my time here. I'll be working heavily in the press department so will say what I'm doing there, and of course doing the blogging and various other bits of the marketing department. I'll hopefully be writing my first entry tomorrow and look forward to sharing my days and talking to you all.
AG: Thanks Agatha, sounds good and I look forward to the blog.
AS: Thanks Adi.
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Comments
We enjoy having students with us, not only do they contribute to our work but they also challenge our thinking and enrich the knowledge capacity of our organisation. Some move on and some come to work for us and others volunteer their services. It's all part of being a learning organisation; when you give you get back.
Hi Agatha, good for you on taking up the post. Hope it's a good experience for you and I look forward to reading your diary.
Welcome Agatha, look forward to hearing more from you!
BTW - You're working with a great team! (do I win the competition now????)
Hey Agatha! I'm pretty much in your shoes - enroled in an internshipy role for a while at a company - hope you find it as exciting as I do!
Make sure Adi looks after you, if he doesn't. He'll have me to answer to at the conference!
Ah, you're in the lead at the moment Simon but I am open to cake related bribery from Margaret in the great comment competition :)
Adi - why didn't you let me know you were open to bribery before now - would have saved me doing all those blog responses :-)
Only joking, I'm sure nobody will catch Simon but I wonder how much time he devotes to blogging out of his day and what the impact is on his work - see post http://blog.managers.org.uk/post/Employees-spend-15-minutes-a-day-on-Fac...
Shall we start the bidding at 3 cakes? :)
What sort of cakes are you after Adi - are we talking fresh cream style, krispy Kreams, or are you thinking more in terms of full size cakes that you can eat in slices :-)
oh - and important to decide if you want shop bought or home made!!
I must say I'm rather fond of cherry bakewells, and of course Christmas cake is always good. We must stop hijacking poor Agatha's thread with talk of cake though. Shame on me :)
Hahaha. Folks folks folks.
Let me just be transparent.
At the moment I'm currently working 9-4 in classes and 3+ hours of homestudy each night 6 days a week for a month. It's for a module in my chartered accountancy exams.
The blog commenting is however not impacting it badly. I find that as a person - no matter HOW busy you are. You can always find time to do what you really desire. And I think my situation helps demonstrate that rather well.
It does however mean that I'm rather short with people when they neglect something important because they were 'busy'. Rather than being busy, the real reason is that it isn't high enough in their priorities. But their denial of this fact, and their acceptance that this is somehow completely out of their control really annoys me.
So yes Agatha. If you get harassed at the workplace by Adi. I will find time to wander over from Waterloo.. down into.. Strand? Is that where you guys are? And have a stern word with him.
Haha. Now that would make for an interesting lunch break.
P.S A stern word, followed by 100 M&S Cakes.
- As an additional note to respond to Ray. When at work, I take my job and responsibility very seriously, blogging is strictly for when I'm at home!
I'm not in the type of job where you find yourself clock watch, or where you can somehow avoid tasks by messing around. I'm in the sort where there simply aren't enough hours in the day! If I spent an hour on facebook everyday during work, I'd be leaving at 8pm :P.
Maybe thats a heavy handed incentive that managers should consider employing :P.