GO Wales Case Studies

Lucy Slade, a student studying French and Italian wanted to get a head start in her career by gaining some work experience in Marketing. She managed to secure a taster within the marketing department at the University of Wales, Newport. Here is Lucy’s story about her experience:

"As I became closer to finishing my course at university, I realised it was important to start thinking more seriously about what I want to do when I finish. As I had an interest in marketing I decided to explore it to see if it would be a possible option for me in the future. If I decided to apply for a job in marketing after university I would have a better understanding of the role and the benefit of having hands-on experience.  I was looking at careers websites for some advice when I found a link to the GO Wales site by chance. After reading about the Work Taster scheme I realised it was perfect for me so I decided to apply."

"The team at the University of Wales, Newport were really approachable and helpful. I was able to ask lots of questions and find out about the different roles within the team. I found out about the resources used to promote the university, the planning of publicity campaigns, dealing with negative press and how to capture a target audience along with measuring  the success of previous marketing activity."

"I was given the opportunity to get involved in many projects such as contributing to the social media strategy, providing designs for promotional activity, interviewing students for a magazine article, writing press releases and assisting with creating marketing schedules. I have learned lots of key skills within this taster which include meeting deadlines, communication and teamwork. I definitely feel this experience has been extremely invaluable to me."

"If I was to give advice to anyone thinking about doing a Work Taster, it would be to go for it! Employers really value work experience because it shows that you’re interested and enthusiastic about the work and you can develop a good understanding of the role. Even if you feel that the job area isn’t for you then at least it is useful to discover and you will have taken away some transferable skills from the experience. The scheme is very flexible and with the employer you can choose when you want to complete your work experience so you can easily fit it around your studies."