Line Manager Name: Ruth Purdy
Job Title: Executive Director of Make It Better CIC
Pathways Programme: Pathways to Arts, Culture & Heritage
Organisation Summary: Make It Better CIC (mitber) supports communities to live well through the arts. We understand that creativity helps us live well, it allows us to contribute, make connections
and look after our culture. Our community shares quality arts activities that we recognise
and protect as human rights.
How did hosting an intern via the Professional Pathways programme benefit you and your organisation?
Hosting an intern enabled us to create a marketing campaign that highlighted our impact over the last few years and we were also able to create new branding for our projects. Having someone enthusiastic come in from the ‘outside’ is important because you don’t always see how far you’ve travelled when you are planning for future growth. It is also beneficial for someone to come in and explain what they think we do in their own words.
How was your experience of hosting a Pathways intern?
Our experience of hosting interns is always refreshing, we work from home and expect our interns to work remotely also. We allow them to work in the hours when they want to, we give them clears goals to work through and refer to them during regular meetings at least twice a week.
Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, how would you recommend ensuring both you and your intern(s) gain as much as possible from the experience?
At mitber we keep an eye out for important projects that we don’t have the time to complete and we ask whether an intern with the right support could undertake them. Writing the job description before the internship helps to write up a plan of action for the internship. We then give them a folder of information to refer to. We are always impressed with the motivation of our interns, I think being clear and handing over a whole project allows them this focus.
Why would you recommend Professional Pathways to other employers?
The Professional Pathways programme offers extra support for SMEs like us and I recommend making use of these opportunities.
What advice would you give to a student considering applying for Professional Pathways?
Be honest about what your skills and experience are at the start, we don’t expect you to know everything, its a learning opportunity. At mitber we are interested in working with people who engage their creativity and work. Tell us about your passions, I like to the see all the ‘duff’ jobs you have on your CV too, wiping tables etc is a track record of working. We’ve all been there.