Client work, meetings, factory tours and visiting magical realms – my work experience
As a Year 10 student who needed to find a work experience placement for a week, it was a pleasure for me to find Jackie Cook at CQ Strategic Marketing. Previously, I had been struggling to find a placement, with every place I had asked stating they were either too full or don’t offer it, but I finally managed to find an option through connections my mum had. My expectations for the week were that it would be exciting yet informative towards my journey of discovering my dreams for the future, and after completing the placement, it was indeed that. Finding a placement can be difficult but asking as many people as possible through connections is probably the easiest way to secure a placement- instead of asking places you initially think of. By the end of the week, I felt that I had gained plenty of knowledge about different job options for me and had slightly more of an idea of the field of work I would like to go into.
On the first day, I was able to attend a meeting in York about a new group- Yorkshire Women in Business- established by The Yorkshire Society. During this meeting, I had to the pleasure to learn a lot about all the diverse jobs in business, ranging from owning a successful restaurant to a successful coaching business, and find out exactly the roles these inspiring women played during the planning of events etc. After visiting York for this meeting, Jackie and I travelled to her office, and she demonstrated to me many things that need to happen in the background of businesses in order to organise them and keep them going successfully. Inspiring and educational, this afternoon helped me gather an idea of the work required to run a business, sparking my interest in being self-employed in the future. Jackie introduced me to software she uses and taught me about mileage that needs tracking and organising for her accountant. Here, Jackie also helped me set up a LinkedIn profile as it is important to have connections when I want to be looking for jobs in the near future.
I started the second day by working from home and even though it was a relaxing start, it was also very helpful for me to be able to understand that this work is just as important and requires full focus and attention as it would in an office or elsewhere. For the afternoon, Jackie and I sat in a peaceful café, continuing some work from the previous day. This afternoon helped me to experience working in different environments, a very useful skill for future life, past my education.
The third day was quite different- Jackie took me to NEC (Nuclear Energy Components) where they manufacture different pieces for the nuclear power sector. As they were planning an open day for the village, Jackie showed me the process of making a flyer to advertise this; demonstrating to me the colour schemes and layout that is needed to make these successful. Not only did this visit illustrate the different jobs required for marketing for different companies, but also gave me an opportunity to see all kinds of diverse jobs within manufacturing. When I first arrived at the factory, Jackie introduced me to Matt Keeley, a director, who gave me a tour around the factory, showing me all impressive machines and jobs within this field of work. This opened a window of opportunity for me to discover more jobs I would never even have heard about if I hadn’t done this work experience. Jackie also informed me of the different options, instead of A-levels, I could do to get a job around this topic.
We began the fourth day by spending about an hour in the office before making our way to Addition Design, proving to me the benefits of flexible working hours as we managed to get a few jobs done within the hour. Addition Design is a company that 3D prints parts for machines in production and packaging lines, supporting maintenance and operating teams. When I was there, I had a go at writing a press release for AddParts’ upcoming event at the PPMA show, understanding the types of content and information that needed to be included. Furthermore, I also had the pleasure of watching a spare part being scanned onto the CAD software ready for modelling to be 3D printed. Following this, I was shown the 3D printers in action, learning how they work, and the different types of materials used in the process.
Finally, during the fifth day, we began by walking to Grimm and Co, a charity in Rotherham, for Airmaster’s team meeting. The church Grimm and Co are based in is beautiful, full of unique and intricate decoration to fit their magical theme. Airmaster, a company that specialises in air conditioning and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, had a rare occasion of most of the team being in one place so they had a tour around the building before holding a team meeting. Fortunately, I got to listen and learn about all the things this company had been through to get to where they are today; allowing me to understand that all hard work and effort pays off by the end. After this, Jackie and I went to another café to carry out some work and have lunch- a very relaxing afternoon. By the end of the week, I could tell I had definitely developed some of my skills after interacting with many new people; adapting to and working in new environments; and attempting many different tasks I had never been faced with before.
Jackie Cook, Managing Director, CQ Strategic Marketing said “I was very impressed with Olivia on how she handled herself throughout what was a very busy week, we had to adapt and change plans to accommodate as my diary changed and meetings moved around. She shadowed me for the week attending meetings, working from clients, our office and remotely in local café’s showing her the modern hybrid way of working. She was professional in her behaviour, asking questions, keen to learn and understand and produced good quality work. I wish her all the best in her future career.”
