Attendees of the Thrive With Mentoring annual conference in Switzerland

Tamar providing event support at the Thrive With Mentoring annual conference

A talk at the Thrive With Mentoring annual conference

Career Lab is a series of opportunities designed to develop students' skills, experiences and confidence. The programme is open to all undergraduate students and is split by year group, with opportunities including paid summer internships, digital skills training, insight visits and student consultancy.

We connected with BA Anthropology final year student, Tamar Honnah, who shares her experiences of taking part in the online global summer internship programme. She tells us how her confidence has grown by putting herself out of her comfort zone and asking for opportunities.

Tamar, thank you for sharing your experiences. You took part in the online global summer internship programme. What was your role in the organisation?  

My role was an intern at Thrive with Mentoring. I mostly had an administrative role supporting the main project of helping them to prepare for the Thrive conference and awards ceremony.

Can you tell us a little more about what your work involved, and what you enjoyed about it?  

Thrive with Mentoring is a mentoring organisation focussed on the personal and professional development of women. Women mentors and women mentees together in a mentorship programme.

I enjoyed that it was a supportive environment and that I was contributing to an organisation that had such lovely values, and inadvertently I felt like I was being mentored as an intern who is a young woman.

I also got a lot of job satisfaction from completing my daily tasks as well as how much I learned and the skills I gained in such a short amount of time (4 weeks).

What was your experience of the programme like? 

It was generally a good experience; I liked the optional weekly Slack talks which were a great place to ask any questions I had. My personal internship experience manager was very helpful for internship advice but also just personal or everyday queries. The thing which I think helped me develop as a person the most outside of doing the internship is the two coaching calls which had so many gems, pieces of wisdom and encouragement, and I owe a lot to that with helping me with my confidence and putting myself out there!

What was your main takeaway from the programme? 

To just take on all the advice you can. I was nervous and not very confident, but I knew I wanted to put myself out there more and get out of my comfort zone. I have learnt that asking does not hurt, that is a part of networking after all! If the answer is no then at least you have asked and you never know what opportunity it may lead you onto instead, your rejection could be redirection.

What skills have you learned? How do you think the programme has helped you going forward?  

I have learnt so many skills. The practical skills are new softwares I used, I created social media posts for the company using Canva and Publer. I learned how to utilise chat GPT within the workplace for creating captions and email content. I also leant how to represent the company, I didn’t just reflect me, but myself reflected the company so being mindful of that and presenting myself in a way that showed the company in the best light was important to me. I also had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting and take minutes and actions, I asked to do this, and it was welcomed! They ended up being so happy with me that they extended my internship for two weeks after it had ended, which I am so grateful for!

What was the application process like, and do you have a recommendation to help someone become a successful applicant? 

The application process was fairly easy, I would definitely recommend using the Virtual Internships website [the programme provider] and YouTube page as well as attending any introductory video calls.

I would say it was difficult when I didn’t like the company as much, but getting the interview experience is still valuable.

Did you need to have any previous knowledge or skills in the field before applying? 

No, that is what I liked about it; these days it is so hard as an undergraduate or even a student trying to gain experience. Many places want experience, but where can you go to gain that experience, learn something new and get paid! That’s why I really appreciated this scheme.

What were the advantages and disadvantages of taking part in the scheme? 

The advantage was that it was very flexible, I could work where I wanted, and I could arrange my timetable (of course with consideration to the time difference and being able to get in touch with my colleagues).

The disadvantage was also that you don’t have that personal connection as if you were going into work, often your colleagues will be hundreds or thousands of miles away. That’s why I was grateful to be able to meet my colleagues in person which I know many interns may not get the opportunity to do.

What challenges did they face and how did they overcome them? 

I had issues with confidence when it came to advocating for myself and reaching out. I learnt it’s ok to ask questions or not know everything straight away. It is okay to feel apprehensive or uncomfortable when you feel out of your depth but putting yourself out of your comfort zone for something, that can help you grow as a person. I asked if I could sit in on a meeting, I was nervous but I had to believe in my capability. I also asked if I could travel to Switzerland and that was the best thing I could have ever done for my confidence as well as networking! I spoke to so many people and even got offered a possible job in the future. Even the founder said an intern had never asked to come to an event before, so because I asked and put myself out there it opened so many doors for me and I got to work internationally and talk to my colleagues in person!

What would they say to a student who is unsure about taking part in the scheme? 

I would say just give it a go, you don’t have anything to lose and if you are successful then there is so much to gain.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in a similar role?

Make sure you research the company and find something you can connect with in the company if it is in a sector you are interested in building your career in, or even just to gain practical real-world experience.

Also be authentic, don’t try to put on a persona, sometimes creating those personal connections can help others identify with you when building a rapport for networking. Always make sure to have the right balance between this and professionalism though, that’s important to set a good impression of yourself.

Interested?

Visit the Career Lab website for more information.

The University also offers a range of services to help with confidence building, including Belong at Sussex activities, mentoring, coaching programme, counselling and wellbeing support.

Further information: https://student.sussex.ac.uk/careers/career-lab

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