Name of Student: Valentina
Pathway Programme: Pathways to Marketing (2024 cohort)
Internship Role: Marketing Analyst
Summary of Organisation: Navigate is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation based in Somerset. Our vision is to bring an end to financial hardship, and our mission is to offer those in need the help to build confidence, knowledge, and skills for long-term money management. Navigate’s work benefits those individuals and families facing financial hardship and exclusion by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage across Somerset and in parts of Devon. We also provide financial education and training services for businesses, educational establishments and other organisations.
Please briefly outline the project/tasks/responsibilities you worked on during your Professional Pathways internship.
“The main project I completed was to write an interim evaluation report on the implementation of Navigate’s first marketing strategy. This involved understanding the marketing strategy and regulations Navigate must follow before conducting data analysis from Meta, LinkedIn and website analytics. I also researched ‘competitor’ organisations to see how their posts were performing and identified trends of what makes successful marketing. I analysed trends in performance of Navigate’s post. The report was made up of data analysis, trends, recommendations all acknowledging the limited resources in terms of time, staff and money.“
I also conducted research on the demographic of Navigate’s target area – Devon and Somerset – to find statistics that support the charity’s expansion into providing financial education services to employees to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism. This formed part of a marketing pack which I designed – a way of attracting potential clients to Navigate’s services.
My final task was to write a script for a promotional video outlining the above service. This involved researching how to write an engaging video and producing design ideas.”
How has the Professional Pathways programme helped you in taking the next steps in your career?
“Although I do not want to pursue a career in Marketing, both the training and internship have been extremely valuable both in terms of skills development but also as a learning experience. Insights from the training relate directly to public policy (my career interest) because I learned how to effectively communicate a message and how to attract public attention. Working for a charity was a great experience in understanding the challenges they face and gaining insights into their working methods and the legislative regulations associated. My manager also said that she was so impressed by my work that she would hire me on a freelance basis.”
What achievement(s) were you particularly proud of during your Pathways internship?
“I was proud to have completed the report and other work to a high standard and for the recommendations from my report to form the new marketing strategy. This will hopefully help the organisation to more effectively target its desired base.”
Given the Professional Pathways internship is 35 hours in total, what advice would you give to other students to ensure they gain as much as possible from the experience?
“I would definitely pay attention during the training because it is extremely useful – think about how the training relates to your internship. Also, throw yourself in at the deep end and try all the tasks your manager suggests – I never thought I’d be able to write a report in 3 days or write a video script in a couple of hours.”
What advice would you give to a student who has to complete an internship via remote or hybrid working?
“My internship was entirely remote. I’d recommend updating your manager at the end of each day via email and arranging interim catch up meetings. It is also a good opportunity to improve your problem solving skills by working things out for yourself rather than constantly asking for help.”