One of the many benefits of studying at Loughborough is the opportunities that come with it. A prime example is the ability to take a placement year and receive an extra qualification as a result (Diploma in Professional Studies).

My name is Emily Rigden and back in June 2021, I was lucky enough to secure an internship within the Schools College Liaison team, under Marketing and Advancement (M&A), at Loughborough University. The placement has taught me so much about the industry, the university and myself. Throughout this blog post, I hope to share a good sense of understanding what it is like to work for the University and what a typical day in the life of a marketing intern looks like.

What does a typical day look like?

To be honest there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ day in the life. I can start work as early as 6am until late in the afternoon and go on to finish late in the evening. It completely depends on what my day consists of. At least 2 or 3 times a week I will have an event either on campus that I am supporting or an event anywhere in the UK at a school Higher Education (HE) fair (HEF). I can also be attending National events across the country such as UCAS Fairs or What Uni Search fairs. The main premise of my job is to implement and support recruitment marketing campaigns across all levels of study to prospective students. I do this through small, scaled school or college HE fairs, social media, or specific VIP outreach events.

Because of this ‘every day is a different schedule’ kinda life, I plan everything meticulously on my Outlook calendar.

Today’s to-do’s

To give an idea, I’ll run through a day where I will be working in the office in the morning and then travelling to a HEF in the evening. As a Student Recruitment Intern, I get the pleasure of working in Hazlerigg. So around 8:30am I will head into the office, normally meet Georgia (the other SRO intern) en route and discuss the morning coffee run. Once we have sat down in the office, the first job of the day is to finalise the plan for the day, re-allocate any time that was reserved for completed tasks and schedule in lunch.

If I have an event in the afternoon, I will usually confirm the event/my travel plans and make sure my hire car is on track to arrive on time. My morning activities can also include anything from posting and regulating the new Lboro_SCL Instagram and LboroSCL twitter account, producing presentations or doing research tasks for the wider M&A department.

Why chose an M&A internship at Loughborough?

I have absolutely loved my time as an SRO intern and especially working in the SCL team. It sounds so cliché, however, every single person I have met in the team has been so incredibly supportive, welcoming and made me feel like a valued member of the team. I have heard horror stories of my friends who have done placements where they have been treated horrendously, isolated from the team, and treated just as ‘measly interns’, I can hand on heart say, that is not how Loughborough treat their interns.  We are given independence and autonomy to work on things I like and things that can develop me.

I can’t wait to see what else this job has to offer me. I hope this gives you a better idea of things that a marketing intern could get involved in and what a typical ‘day in the life’ looks like.