by Jess Blackwell
I think it’s safe to say that I was feeling rather panicked before I got some advice from the Careers Service at University. In fact, I feel panicked is a slight understatement – I was absolutely convinced that I was doomed to a life of unemployment and/or a job that sucked out my soul. Luckily, the Careers Service managed to help me out a bit.
UoB and Santander SME Internship Scheme
The Careers Service introduced me to the UoB and Santander SME Internship scheme page – a helpful page full of really interesting companies, a lot of them local, that were looking to employ an intern for varying amounts of time. And this is where I found and then applied for The Doppler Effect. I even ended up getting the internship.
Who do I work for?
The Doppler Effect is currently a small start-up located in Bristol. The company helps creators take their work to market and create sustainable businesses – or to put it simply – we take creative ideas and make them happen.
What have I been doing?
Part of what the company does, and part of what me and another intern (also a Bristol Uni student) have been working on, is a project called Peculiar People. In this project we get to source, meet and interview creatives from psychedelic rock bands to glass artists.
Eventually there will be an event and a shop where we can sell all the amazing things being created by the ‘Peculiar People’ from Bristol and beyond.
I’ve also been looking into our other tasks, thinking of creative ways to help the community and promote equality, exploring ways to work with creative organisations – like local theatre companies – to discuss misconceptions about race, gender, sexuality etc.
What have I learnt?
- Danielle (the founder) is an absolute ray of sunshine, teaching us about the marketing world in a way that has been invaluable.
- Being a creative myself, having the chance to meet such a diverse community of interesting and innovative people is amazing.
- It’s also been a way to boost my conversational skills – being able to control an interview has been a really interesting skill to practise.
- What with The Doppler Effect being a small team (there’s 3 of us), everything has been really hands on and I’ve got to assist on projects that I would never normally have been able to within bigger companies – like website design for example.
- Everyone knows each other really well and the tasks can be assigned in a more personal way to match individual skill sets.
Ultimately, the best thing about this opportunity has been that this internship has been a way to find out what I really want to do and what’s important to me in a job.
Any advice?
I would really beg people to go check out the Internship scheme page – especially if you’re an Arts student feeling a bit at a loss within the graduate schemes world. It can be found via the Vacancies link on the Careers page.
Find out more about the UoB and Santander SME Internship scheme.