Hi Everyone!
I have just completed my placement at
32 Degrees South Group and I cant help but feel sad. It has been such an
amazing experience especially being part of such a new company. When I finished,
my supervisor took the team out for celebratory/goodbye drinks and she asked us
what we have learnt from this experience. My immediate answer was ‘confidence’.
I said that in University your tutors see potential and they mark you
accordingly however you never truly know whether you were just having a good
day or whether the caliber of work would be accepted in the real world. Working
with people who truly rely on you to do a good job because it involves money
and business reputation, and then getting good feed back on your work, just
gives you more and more confidence to be able to enter the workforce. No one
could every replace that. I also said it was so incredible to see my work
go up online- knowing that it was good enough to be up for everyone to see it
and represent the companies work. I was extremely lucky to have a supervisor
who gave constructive criticism and compliments that I started to feel were
deserved. My supervisor also asked me whether I felt disadvantaged for working
in a small boutique firm rather then a big one. I answered that I could see
that each has its positives and negatives attributes. For example, being part
of a boutique firm means that you are given many jobs to do and get one on one
contact with your supervisor who can mentor you through your internship.
However, it also means that you cannot hide behind someone else when you make a
mistake, you stand out, every task given to you is something that will be used
in one way or another and be a representation of the companies work. When you
work for a big firm you can hide behind other people, if you make a mistake it
can be easily covered, your work is not always the be all and end all of
company and you get the opportunity to work with some big names. However some
negatives may be that you do not get as many chances to produce work, your
supervisor has little time to communicate with you and you could potentially be
given unexciting and repetitive tasks. I have not worked in a big firm so I do
not take my word that these negative characteristics are true- they are only
assumptions. I would however be very open to working in a big firm because I
have realised that you do not have to be a part of every daily task that goes
on in the office, merely observing can be very educational. You also have a lot
of opportunity to make an impression, stand out and potentially score yourself
a paid position.
Over all this was an incredible
experience- a lot of work on top of other university studies but every day was
worth it. I feel proud to have obtained and completed this internship myself.
It is a huge achievement. I think Curtin is incredible to provide us with this
opportunity. The workforce doesn’t look so scary after all.
I have learnt that even though your
internship has finished, the lessons you have learnt in this unit will stay
with you throughout your working career- it is never over, it’s only just
begun- and I’m excited!!
Thank you everyone for reading and I
hope you all enjoyed your placement as much as I did!!
Martine
Xxxx
