Interning with the Student Housing Company
We’ve asked Harriet Yates, our lovely Sales and Marketing Intern to give you all the low down on what it’s like to intern with us at The Student Housing Company. Harriet is studying a BA Hons in Marketing (ooo fancy!) at Nottingham Trent University and started with us in June. So Harriet…
When did you first become involved in The Student Housing Company?
I undertook a week’s work experience in the summer of 2014, prior to starting my degree at Nottingham Trent University. The week was a fantastic insight into the world of marketing and gave me huge reassurance that I had picked the right course!
So what made you come back?
Not only were the team so lovely and welcoming, but the week’s work experience flew by and there was so much more to learn that couldn’t be crammed into one week! I also believe that in the competitive working world we are living in now, it is essential to undertake a relevant internship in the industry you aspire to work in.
What interests you about TSHC?
Where do I even start?.. The opportunities for TSHC are limitless! When I was here last summer they only had accommodation in England and now they’re building developments in Ireland and Spain. On a more personal level, I love the fact that I am the target audience. This means I am able to offer my advice, ideas and suggestions to the team. On my first day, the team asked for my input on Fresher’s Week giveaways, I chose one of our main promotional items that we’ll be giving away at Fresher’s Fairs- that was pretty cool!
Have you been to visit any of the residences?
I visited Depot Point in London last year whilst on work experience, I particularly liked the cluster flat kitchens- they were enormous! More recently, I got to travel to Bristol and walk around The Courtrooms whilst it was under construction. This involved going around the building site in a hard hat, Hi-Viz jacket and builders boots #attractive! I visited Bristol with Sarah (Head of Sales and Marketing) and we decided on which windows needed to be frosted in order to give the students maximum privacy. My favourite trip so far was to Edinburgh to visit Canal Point. I spent the morning attending a meeting and got a tour of the accommodation in the afternoon. In my opinion the treasure of the residence were the views of the Edinburgh Castle from the studios towards the top of the building.
What’s your time at Head Office been like?
My experience at HQ has been extremely beneficial and I am finally starting to understand why the various lectures and seminars in my first year of university have been relevant to ‘the real world’. My favourite job to date was creating a ‘fresher’s survival kit’ motion video in order to increase brand awareness. I worked closely with Rosie (Digital Marketing Executive) to create a series of moving images that contained items fresher’s may consider as essential to take to university and created a blog accompany the video. You can see that here! We had so much fun making it, I actually had to pinch myself because it didn’t feel like real work!
What’s a typical day like for you? Do you get all the boring jobs?
Before starting I thought I would end up with all the boring jobs, however that is not the case, obviously not everything can be exciting but its good experience for me, and I can use it when I go back to Uni. A typical day for me will be coming into the office, updating the social media sites e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. I will then usually be given a task list of what I need to complete during the day, it can be anything from market research, to proof reading our vital check in information, attending meetings about anything and everything, or writing blogs!
As a student, what advice would you give to other students?
Work hard, party hard!