The job market is becoming more competitive every day. Learning and internship opportunities might just be the key part of your experience.
An internship gives you a combination of practical skills whilst dipping your toes into the wild waters of the industry, but still being guided by a highly skilled team. That’s what Swindon based venue finding and events agency, Venues and Events International, thrives upon – giving young people opportunities.
Taking an opportunity like this brings benefits to students, both while doing their studies and when seeking a career. It is an amazing way of gaining experience, applying your education, exploring a possible career, networking, learning professionalism whilst building your CV.
18 year old Samuel who sees his future in marketing and 20 year old journalism student Natalia from the University of Essex can vouch for their experience at Venues and Events International.
“The staff are really nice, kind and approachable, always here to give you advice. The tasks I’ve been given are manageable, and I have flexible working hours to coincide with my own studies,” said Samuel Joseph about his experience so far.
Learning and growing is in their best interest and the team at Venues and Events International have no problem sharing their experiences in the business and their own stories. Samuel said that the agency gives him an insight on how a job in marketing in event management works.
“It teaches me all the things you, as a company, have to look out for, like keeping an eye on competitors. It gives you an idea for your possible future,” said Samuel.
Internships are full of possibilities to explore your future path. You can never get bored in event management, every day brings a new challenge and there are a lot of skills that can be passed on, such as communication with Clients, making arrangements and managing finances.
Natalia, said: “For me the best part is writing blogs and press releases. I feel like a lot of responsibility comes with that. As a journalism student I love to explore the ways my career could go. After working for Venues and Events International for three weeks, I could clearly imagine my future in event management as well.”
The agency started an Emerging Leaders programme designed to help new team additions to develop their skills and prepare them for future managerial positions. A lot of time is invested in giving the most to these young talents.
One of these Emerging Leaders is Event Executive, Hay Tang, who started as an intern and then as a new position opened within the team, has stayed on at Venues and Events International. Although studying business at Cambridge before, he has now found his place in events.
“I joined the team originally as an Intern more than a year ago. It was such a busy time for the company that I was able to get stuck in straight away and gain so much first-hand experience. Not only did I have my own workload, but I was also able to work alongside the senior event managers to see what they were doing on a day-to-day basis and see if that was something for me,” said Hay about his experience as an intern over a year ago.
Hay now has a permanent position in the Company and encourages young people to grab all the opportunities they can get.
“Venues and Events International is a business that offers young people opportunities for career development. Even the Emerging Leaders Programme gives people the opportunity to carry out work that they probably wouldn’t do until years down the line. Myself especially, having only been with the Company for just over a year, I have been given the amazing chance to project manage a high profile 8-month oil company project, and I don’t think that experience happens in any other company so quickly,” said Hay.
Anita Lowe, CEO of Venues and Events International, added: “The events industry has taken a beating this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. Now more than ever it’s essential that we recognise the hard work of our Emerging Leaders and ensure we’re preparing them for the future. That’s also why we’re having another graduate from the University of Essex join us for an internship in January and I’m so pleased!
This year, I’m delighted that we have been able to achieve Investors In People accreditation, this is a true testament of the dedication and hard work by the entire team. Our values are at the core of everything we do and believe in, and despite the changes in how we have had to work this year, our values are still shining through.”
