My Internship Experience at New Verve

| Wed, July 27, 2022 | Company Culture | 0 comments

At New Verve, we’re proud to have strong links with the Internship Hub at the University of Glasgow.

Internships benefit students and recent graduates by giving them experience and guidance in a sector they have a passion for. These experiences can be significant when a student or recent graduate is looking to take the next step in their journey; they offer a chance to try out a work environment, learn professional skills and make new connections.

New Verve also benefits from the innovative attitudes and fresh perspectives interns can bring to the company. We always look for interns with a can-do attitude and a love of self-development which means that hiring our interns creates a learning journey for both sides of the table.

This blog comes to you courtesy of our Marketing Intern, Joy Dakers, who joined our team over the summer.

Why did you apply for this internship?

I have a passion for all things creative and have always been fascinated by marketing. I love brainstorming and implementing new ideas so I have always wanted a career where I could follow an idea from its conception to its final product. Marketing offers this.

As a recent graduate from the University of Glasgow, I thought there was no time like the present to get stuck in and start a new adventure. When I was scanning the Internship Hub I saw the New Verve posting. After taking a deeper look into the company, its values and what the internship would entail I decided to apply, and I am so glad I did!

Starting a new internship is exciting and it’s always going to be a learning curve. It’s great to get experience in a sector you’re interested in, as well as talk to and learn from experts. When I began my New Verve internship in May 2022, I was excited and a little apprehensive, as I knew I would have to learn a lot! The internship was 100% one of the best experiences I have had and I have come away with so much knowledge and confidence. Read on to find out a bit more about my typical tasks, the work culture and how I made the most of my internship experience at New Verve.

What was a typical day like for you at New Verve?

My typical day at New Verve involved a variety of tasks, depending on the campaigns and projects the marketing team were focusing on. I could be writing blogs one day and then creating a demo video the next. On other days I would be undertaking enablement, which involves utilising marketing resources and working towards certifications.

There tends to be a stereotype of an intern being delegated admin tasks that often seem insignificant. I can say my experience was anything but this. From day one I was learning and completing activities that I knew were impacting the current and future marketing campaigns of New Verve. The training and guidance from my supervisor allowed me to put myself in the shoes of our buyer persona and make decisions and content that reflected this.

There was not a day at New Verve where I didn’t learn something. My hopes and goals for this internship were fulfilled as I was able to learn and then implement my learning whilst understanding the impact my decisions and choices would have on the bigger picture. I was motivated by the team and the opportunities I was getting such as working towards content marketing certificates to analysing the marketing reports.

Was anything different from what you expected from a marketing role?

Although I had some previous experience with social media and some aspects of marketing before joining New Verve, I was still naive to the amount of thought and research that goes into every campaign. When people think of marketing they think of the sleek, finished end-product - not about all the back-end, behind-the-scenes efforts that go into making sure campaigns run smoothly.

It is so easy to see a LinkedIn post or a blog page and assume someone has just sat at a desk and written out a post in minutes. In reality, for every blog you see a marketing department has brainstormed ideas, completed SEO research, planned, written, re-written, edited and finally posted the finished product. This internship opened my eyes to the behind-the-scenes and has increased my appreciation for the amount of planning that goes into marketing campaigns.

As someone who was drawn to marketing by the creative and design aspects, I had never given much thought to SEO and analytics - a crucial part of any marketing campaign. Working at New Verve gave me these skills in both theory and practice. Through different courses and asking my supervisor Louise Reilly, Marketing Manager, I found out that I really enjoy this part of marketing. It was great to have time set aside to learn about Semrush and Google Analytics and to eventually feel comfortable navigating my way around the software and putting them to use in real marketing circumstances.

SEO was an aspect of marketing that I discovered I found fascinating. Being able to work out and make decisions based on data from previous campaigns gave me an understanding of what we were working towards and the difference the marketing team can make to a product and company. It also gave me the independence to research topics and keywords that I could implement into social media and the website and feel like I was making a difference in New Verve’s online presence.

What did you think of remote working and the flexibility at New Verve?

I will admit I was anxious about a remote internship and whether I would miss out on the office culture and getting to know the team but I can honestly say that this has not been a problem whatsoever. There is the option to go into the office, which I have a couple of times; this means you can get the best of both worlds but I rarely felt the need as the team is always friendly and there are several initiatives to help with the team aspect of remote working.

I enjoyed remote working as it gave me more freedom and flexibility to work the way that was best for me and, in turn, New Verve. New Verve was my first experience of flexible working and it was an aspect of the company I appreciated. Although most weeks I would work to the same schedule, it did give me the freedom to make my schedule fit around my life and vice versa.

How did you find the work culture?

From the minute I arrived at New Verve, I felt included. Within the first week, I had met most of the company and people from different departments had messaged me to say “hello” and offer any help or advice if I needed it.

The weekly social calls mean that everyone gets to come together and chat, it’s a real opportunity to get to know everyone outwith talking about work. Similarly Donut, a team communication Slack extension, is activated every fortnight; this allows colleagues to dedicate up to an hour for a chat with a randomly assigned co-worker. I found these initiatives engaging and they removed the isolation that I was apprehensive about.

In terms of supervisor contact, I have had a short stand-up every day with Louise and every fortnight we have a 1-2-1 which is a confidential time where I could bring up any issues I was having and discuss feedback. These made me feel appreciated and the feedback aspect was particularly good for keeping me focused and learning more.

Something that I deeply felt and learned during my time at New Verve was that I could grow with the company. The environment I came into at New Verve meant I was constantly learning and improving. I have tried to seize every moment and absorb all the fantastic knowledge and expertise from the team. Everyone always took the time to help me when I asked questions and this in turn let me grow to become more independent in my tasks. The culture of learning at New Verve was fantastic and the 4+1 working week was extremely beneficial as I was able to put my learning into practice and polish up skills I felt I was lacking.

Can you tell us some of your highlights from working at New Verve?

The main highlight for me would be that after only a few months of my internship experience I have already left my mark on New Verve’s marketing campaigns in the blog posts I have written, the demo video of Crumbs: CRM for Jira I produced, and the monthly reports I collated. From brainstorming content to optimising the website for SEO, this internship has been a non-stop learning, activity-packed role. So, of course, the main highlight has to be the way that I have had the opportunity to grow and experience the marketing department.

Another highlight for me has to be the work culture, I really enjoyed the Wednesday socials where the team would gather to play a game and it would always be a laugh. It was something I looked forward to on a Wednesday and a great end to the day. The culture also included an environment of learning and growing with your job which was so beneficial and maximised my learning experience.

How have you made the most of your internship experience?

I was lucky enough to feel comfortable and have an open and honest relationship with everyone at New Verve. This made the experience easier as I felt able to ask questions to streamline my learning experience and learn more efficiently. The Marketing department was amazing at sharing their knowledge and expertise and giving me tips and tricks to help with my tasks.

I found one of the most important things to learn is to find out why you are doing certain tasks. It helped me learn and remember much faster when I knew the impact the task would make on the company and campaigns.

As much as it is great to ask questions I felt that I had a good balance at New Verve between learning and doing. I was able to do research and then was trusted with tasks that I could complete from my learning. It felt really good that the team entrusted me with activities and believed in me. Sometimes, the best way to learn is to just do it. When I hit a problem I was able to learn a new skill and implement it next time. This is such a valuable lesson to learn. I must thank all my colleagues at New Verve for allowing me to work through issues with them patiently and also giving me challenging tasks that I was able to learn and grow from.

How do you feel about a career in marketing after this internship experience at New Verve?

I feel positive about a career in marketing and it is something I am passionate about. New Verve has shown me that there are so many aspects to marketing from organisation and roadmap creation to brainstorming creative ideas. It is a career, where I feel, you could never get bored as there are so many different things to do and each project is different in its own way. I also feel like it is rewarding as the more you learn about the tasks the more you can put this to use and see real change in what you do.

If you were to sum up your time at New Verve in a sentence what would you say?

Variety, lots of learning and great colleagues; working at New Verve has boosted my confidence and motivation to pursue a career in marketing!

I am so grateful for the belief, opportunities and expertise that the New Verve team have provided for me. It has been an eye-opening internship experience full of variety and learning that I feel has provided me with fantastic career skills. I know, going forward, I will look back on this opportunity fondly.

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