Internal Communications/Design Executive - Marketing Review

My 12 month internship with Lumesse was very enjoyable, and provided me with the opportunity to learn so much. The placement provided me with the opportunity to get fully involved within the business and we were treated like permanent members of staff. Throughout the year I was given a lot of responsibility and took ownership of projects with the support of my manager.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, and everyone within the office was extremely friendly and welcoming. We were treated no differently to permanent members of staff and were given the same responsibility. The team I worked in regularly went on team nights out and team meals. There were also regular events and competitions within the office and I was always encouraged to get involved with everything that was taking place.

I was given a lot of support from my managers throughout the 12 months of my placement. We had a weekly team meeting to discuss what we would be working on for that week and what help we needed. If I needed help or was struggling with something there was always someone around to help.

On a daily basis I was normally quite busy. However, due to my responsibilities my workload would sometimes fluctuate. This was not really an issue as my manager would ask me if I had the capacity within my day before giving me more work to do. Within my team we used a website to monitor our tasks and set deadlines, so my manager could keep up to date with my workload and allowed me to priorities my tasks.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my placement. The level of responsibility I was given was the same as many of the permanent members of staff. This gave me the opportunity to get fully involved and even take ownership of projects that I was working on. I feel that the level of responsibility I was given really made me feel part of the team and helped me learn a lot with the 12 months.

The training I received whilst on my placement with Lumesse was really useful and without it I wouldn’t have been able to do my job role. Within the first month I was sent on a week-long Adobe Creative Cloud training course, as I had very little experience with this software and it was a vital part of my role. I was also involved with a number of other internal training days, such as Pardot training. Overall I have learnt a lot about marketing and this is something that will definitely be beneficial for when I return to university. All of the training I received can be added to my CV and will help me in the future when applying for graduate jobs.

The Luton office is the Lumesse Global Headquarters. The office was normally fairly busy, and although it is a professional the office it had a rather relax feel to it. Everyone was very friendly, and there was a pool table and foosball table in the kitchen which we used on our lunch breaks and there were also a few pool tournaments.

The intern programme is set up really well within Lumesse. I was one of 10 interns, and we all had specific roles within the business. On the first day we were provided with laptops, desks and screens as well as being introduced to our managers and individual teams. For the first week the interns whose roles we would be taking over showed us everything we needed to know and gave us basic training on some of the programmes we would be using. This was really useful and gave us a good insight into what we would be doing. We also completed an e-learning onboarding programme in the first month, which provided us with the basic information about the company and our roles.

The company was really good with training. Within the first week I was given basic training on the major programmes I would be using for my role; such as Pardot, Salesforce, and InDesign. I was then sent on a week-long Adobe creative cloud training course within the first month, which was essential for my role. The company has also organised internal training courses which I have attended and as part of my team I have been to marketing and sales exhibitions.

Lumesse doesn't have a graduate scheme

As there were other interns within the Luton office, we regularly organised nights out, meals, Bowling and cinema trips. We also organised a summer BBQ for the office and there were frequent company social events such as pub quizzes, boules tournaments in the office garden, and Pool Competitions. My manager also arranged a number of social events for the team, we went to a crazy golf bar in London, and would have regular team drinks, and meals. We also had the opportunity to go to Krakow in Poland for a company kick-off where we were able to meet staff from other offices in Europe.

My rent each month was £600+ but this was for an en-suite room in a newly refurbished house. You could find a room in a shared house for a lot less, some of the other interns paid a lot less than I did for just a room in a shared house. I also only lived a 15 minute walk away from the office so didn’t have to pay anything for travelling to work. Luton was fairly cheap for drinks and meals out, but we very rarely went into Luton town centre. If we went out we usually went to Harpenden, St. Albans or into London as it was only 30 minutes on the train. Obviously if we went into London the price of socialising would be considerably higher.

There is very little night life in Luton, there are a few pubs but that is about it. However there are a number of towns and cities near to Luton where there are a number of clubs and bars, such as St. Albans, Dunstable, Watford and Milton Keynes. Luton is also only 30 minutes on the train into London.

The office organises a number of tournaments such as 5-a-side football, pool and boules. We also had a summer BBQ and Christmas meal out and drinks. The company like to get involved with charity events; during my placement I help to organise a Macmillan Cake Sale, and Red Nose day as well as participating in Tough Mudder. There are also regular pub quizzes and team drinks and meals.