Following a hotly contested intern competition amongst the MSc Marketing and e-marketing students, with Freestyle’s partner university Oxford Brookes Business School, we have now appointed our very first intern – Jess Chivers.
Jess is with us for three months and is officially dubbed ‘social media intern’.
The quest to find an intern was kick-started by Freestyle MD Suzanne Linton three months ago when discussing the academic programme with Oxford Brookes senior marketing lecturer Sarah Quinton.
Suzanne said: “Sarah & I were thinking of ways we could all mutually benefit from the Oxford Brookes/Freestyle relationship. I’m a massive fan of internships, as was Sarah: students need more practical insight and real hands-on experience for today’s competitive world of work, and agencies like ours need graduates to be willing to come in and learn from the ground up. So running a competition to find our intern was the ideal solution. It’s worked out very well as Jess has come in, hit the ground running, immediately fitted in with the team and is producing some great work.”
Jess said: “When I first received the email inviting me to apply for a paid summer internship with Freestyle Interactive I couldn’t quite believe my luck! Paid internships with digital agencies, where you are treated as a valued member of the team and offered a real opportunity to contribute are virtually non-existent.”
“The fact that I am Freestyle’s first ever intern means that my role with the social media function is really unrestrictive, enabling me to get involved with the range of different projects and maximise my commercial development whilst I’m here.”
“I’ve barely finished my fourth week and I have already completed a peer group insight document for a high profile sports personality and a range of social media activities. I feel really lucky to have been given this level of exposure and believe it will stand me in good stead for future professional development.”
A straight A student, Jess has a BA in English Literature (The University of Warwick) and is set to complete her MSc in Marketing at the end of 2010 once she’s handed in a 20,000 word dissertation!! Way to go Jess!
Find out more about Jess’s experiences at Freestyle and outlook on the online PR and marketing industry through her weekly blog and recent article in Marketing Week.