My last twelve weeks as an Intern at Hey Me have been a fantastic learning experience and have given me invaluable insight into so many areas. 

Interview Experience  

The experience of applying to and interviewing for Hey Me was initially daunting but helped me develop in a number of ways.  

I improved my interview skills and learnt to deal with interview anxiety, thanks to the guidance of the University of York’s careers team. They encouraged me to employ specific techniques, such as the ‘STAR’ technique to provide clear answers to interview questions. With the help of the book ‘The Interview Expert’ by John Lees, I was able to come to the interview prepared.  

Although I got some unexpected questions, I managed to stay calm and focused, unlike in previous interviews. I panicked when they asked me to describe myself in three words, who knows what I said but it must have been ok! 

After the successful interview, I was over the moon when I received the opportunity. After previous failures, this boosted my confidence and proved that I was right to not have given up.

Joining Hey Me 

I was nervous and excited to start and didn’t even anticipate how much I’d come to love working at Hey Me.

Amy and the team were so welcoming and it was great to join such a close-knit company. The benefits of working for a small business, even remotely, is that you can get to know your team and build relationships with them.   

Hey Me’s policies of remote and flexible working were great and I had never experienced working for a company like this. It’s helpful for when you’re balancing multiple priorities and projects and allows you to maximise your productivity without the rigid structure of a 9-5 workday.  

Developing skills 

There is a positive culture of learning at Hey Me and we are encouraged to improve and upskill. For me, a marketing, communications and PR novice, this was a fantastic opportunity to learn from a team with vast experience in the industry and I also had the chance to see what working in an agency is like. 

My social media marketing skills have improved vastly. Before Hey Me, I had learnt through a mix of volunteering and online courses. So, to be able to build on this initial learning and put what I had learnt into practice was great. I am now well-versed in creating social media schedules, creating engaging content, providing comms reports and more.

I’ve also had the chance to sharpen my writing skills through creating blogs for Hey Me, though it was tough at first getting used to writing in a non-academic format. 

Through working as a remote team, my online collaboration and teamwork skills have improved which is valuable in terms of the future of work and the context of the pandemic. There are always challenges when it comes to online communication, but patience is the best tool for dealing with these.  

I have seen my time management, initiative and self-motivation grow throughout the internship particularly because of its remote nature. As a third-year at university doing her final term, sometimes it was challenging to balance all the work and it did get overwhelming. Through creating clear plans and timetables and staying optimistic I was able to keep on top of everything.  

Learning about industries  

Not only have I learnt about and developed skills but I also have gained insights into a range of other industries from rail to business coaching.  

Hey Me’s clients span a range of industries but a number of them are part of the rail and technology industries. In this short space of time, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge about these industries from doing industry update posts for Hey Me to media monitoring for clients.

Internships also provide a great chance to network with people you’d likely never normally meet. I’ve managed to meet many people from various industries who can offer great advice and whose connections will be useful in the future  

The future 

I’m so grateful for the knowledge and skills I’ve gained throughout this internship that I can take into the world of work. I’m so pleased Hey Me have asked me to stay on with them after I graduate and I look forward to continuing to work with the team. I believe this is great evidence of the career development opportunities that internships can offer.  

The benefits of being an intern are numerous, from networking to developing skills. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of having an intern, we posted a blog on this topic previously.