Amongst everything that went wrong in 2020, and all the bumps in the road that the majority of people faced, if there is one thing we have learned it is that there is always a way. We adapted to home working, virtual meetings and balancing our full time jobs with full time childcare. So when we were approached by a motivated, young second year Marketing student who wanted to gain some industry experience, who were we to say no?

Lydia joined us for two months, assisting with day to day tasks, proofreading and editing, social media and trends research, and brought fresh new skills that none of our team members yet had, such as working with Spark AR Studio. Lydia’s work was invaluable during our rebrand, and her support has given us a real fresh perspective and an enhanced strategy… all from home! The benefits for a company offering work experience to students and those looking to start a career in the industry are endless. Even more so during a pandemic where things are changing rapidly.

But what about the benefits for the students themselves? We asked Lydia what she thought.

“As a second-year university student studying fashion communication at Bristol UWE,  having the opportunity to complete work experience at refiine was really exciting. As someone who is keen and interested in digital marketing, brand strategies and creative content, refiine was a perfect place for me to gain further insight and knowledge within this field.

I was apprehensive at first, having had no prior professional experience within marketing, therefore I had no expectations as to what tasks I would be faced with. However, I quickly felt at ease after meeting the rest of the team over daily group calls, feeling involved and welcome, and learning everyone’s different positions within the agency. I found joining team calls alongside client calls extremely useful as it allowed me to understand how the the agency structure operates, working to various deadlines and client expectations.

Completing work experience remotely from home during these unprecedented times has taken time to adjust but I really do feel as though it allowed me to communicate and articulate my contributions further.

I was given a list of different tasks to complete within my time, from proofreading blogs, thinking of new ways to spark engagement and give my input into decisions the agency are making from an outsiders perspective. This approach was effective as it allowed me to be flexible alongside my university studies. As I was unable to go into the office and gain practical experience of the tasks that are at hand, Marketing Coordinator, Ash kept in close collaboration, emailing, and calling me to show the different tasks that herself and other members are doing. This is where I got to understand in depth, the approach refiine takes to convey brand strategies and solutions to clients to ensure successful and reliable results.

To summarise the benefits after completing my experience,  I have gained lots of valuable knowledge within marketing, branding and social media management that I will take with me throughout my degree. I attended webinars with the team, and virtually shadowed client meetings and design work in production which helped me gain more insight into the industry and has opened my mind up to career opportunities post university. Seeing projects where I had my own input, and where my suggestions had been taken on board come to life, was also really rewarding, and confidence boosting. 

But above all, the biggest benefit for me has just been given the opportunity alone, whilst in the midst of a pandemic.

Thank you so much refiine!”