What’s it like to take part in work experience at the Social Element?
CEO Tamara Littleton connected with work finder and last week, we had the pleasure of working with two fantastic girls as they completed their work experience placements.
We asked Zainab and Anna to share their thoughts on how the week went for them.
The first day of work experience was spent getting set up with all of the digital tools they would need to have the full Social Element experience. It gave them some time to settle in ahead of a busy week.
An introduction to business and digital media
On Tuesday, Anna and Zainab joined Tamara Littleton at PI Live where they attended a Dragon’s Den style competition where a group of young people got to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts (which included Tamara).
Later, they all headed to Voice Over Soho and watched as Tamara recorded a podcast. The discussion ranged from ethics in algorithms, diversity in business and the positive and negative effects of social media, to exploring innovative ways of working.
The day taught both Anna and Zainab a lot about business skills. Anna was interested in the podcast’s discussion of ethics in algorithms, diversity in business, positive and negative effects of social media and innovative ways of working. As Zainab said: “At the end of the day, I felt inspired to start my own business.”
On Wednesday, Zainab and Anna explored how The Social Element helps clients with social media content, including paid media. It gave them insight into how advertising works from the business side of things.
Getting to know the team
Thursday focused on team building and interpersonal relationships. The education system rarely focuses on how to initiate and build good working relationships, and it can feel intimidating to get to know a lot of new people when you first enter the workforce.
Zainab and Anna joined The Social Element team for a group lunch, which helped them get to know the team in a more relaxed and chatty atmosphere.
Knowing how to pitch yourself to prospective employers
Later that day, the recruitment manager met with Anna and Zainab to go through how to create an effective and impactful CV.
It’s another area that tends to be skipped over in schools, colleges and universities. You can have great qualifications and experience, but if you don’t know how to distil your experience down into one side of A4, and do so in an engaging way that makes the reader want to find out more, it’s easy to be overlooked.
The Social Element team believes that work experience should offer just that, experience. Anna Zainab both participated in activities during their week with us – Zainab even wrote a great post on Tik Tok, which will be online later this week.
Work experience, especially when you’re still at school, doesn’t have to be about finding the exact kind of company you want to work for during your career. Instead, it offers students a chance to experience what the world of work has to offer.
What’s it really like to go to work every day? How are you supposed to behave in an office environment? How can you get a job to start with? These are all questions that a good work experience placement can help people answer, and we hope that we’ve helped Zainab and Anna gain a little insight into the world of business.
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