English Language and Linguistics student Ruby shares her experience on the B-Experienced Internship, open to University of Birmingham students
I did a B-Experienced internship in my second year and found it to be a really positive and beneficial experience. I had previously found applications for internships and work experience to be quite daunting and time-consuming, which isn’t useful when you are also trying to manage assignments and studying!
Unlike these other applications though, I found the B-Experienced application to be much more accessible, quick, and easy. It was just a couple of simple and straightforward questions about why I wanted to work with the company and what relevant skills and experiences I had. Nothing weird, nothing crazy, nothing too demanding – just straight to the point. I managed to quickly fill out my application right when I found it because it was that quick and simple – no fluff!
At first, I didn’t hear anything back for a while so obviously assumed the worst BUT to my surprise, on the journey back to university after the Christmas holidays, I got an email inviting me to an interview! I was excited and nervous, but felt like my hard work was finally paying off. A couple of weeks later and the interview went great and I was really excited about the possibility of getting the internship and – spoiler alert! – I got it!
For my B-Experienced internship, I spent 2-3 months with InStudents as a Public Relations Intern on a part-time and hybrid basis and working around my university schedule. It was the ideal situation for me. I applied to this role with InStudents because of this flexibility but also because I had an interest in the creative and media industries, whilst also wanting to make a positive impact through the charity and education sector. So InStudents was pretty perfect for me!
As a Public Relations Intern, I got involved in things like researching journalists and creating media lists, as well as shaping the social media channels through planning, scheduling, and creating content.
My internship aligned with the launch of InStudents’ new PathFinder EMBARK programme, which was a work experience programme for international students. It was really cool and exciting to support the launch of this by helping to organise and run it, as well as creating content to promote future sessions. As part of this, I even got to interview the founder and CEO of The Book Shelf LTD, which was really fun and interesting – especially as someone interested in the publishing industry – and definitely a highlight of my internship!
Overall, I really enjoyed my B-Experienced internship with InStudents and I learnt a lot from the process, especially about the way I work best and the things I enjoy. Whilst it hasn’t been directly relevant to my immediate next steps after university as I am pursuing a PhD, it allowed me to develop lots of beneficial and transferable skills for my post-grad life!
BA English Language and Linguistics
I'm Ruby (she/her) and I study English Language and Linguistics. I love books, music, pop culture, and cosy nights in.
