Focusing my career path and honing my skills through a Collaborative Future internship
Lizzie shares her journey with Collaborative Future, and shares how the experience enabled her to explore her skills on the job.
Headshot of Lizzie with greenery in the background
Attracted by the opportunity Collaborative Future offered to connect with people, and help her get her foot in the door, Lizzie joined the 2020 cohort two months after graduating from her Design Management degree at University of the Arts London.
Her degree ending unceremoniously in the summer, with in-person teaching and all the usual final year university experiences affected by the impact of COVID-19 – Lizzie started her employment search in an over-saturated job market, with none of the usual hospitality or retail opportunities available to new graduates finding their feet, but still with all the typical pressures they face.
For Lizzie, her placement interview was a change from her previous hiring experiences. Collaborative Future’s unique approach; providing questions prior interview, setting a practical task and creating an open atmosphere, meant she was able to prepare and relax during her conversation with Tess. Then, coming out of her interview feeling positive, she entered the programme most excited about trying her hand at lots of different skills, and taking up the opportunity to work and collaborate with a wide variety of people. On top of this, Tess provided useful feedback Lizzie could build on for future opportunities.
“I received some really good feedback [from unsuccessful applications before joining CF] - not many places gave specific, detailed feedback [like Tess] though.”
As an intern with us, Lizzie had no shortage of work to do. In her six months on the programme, she worked with six businesses – challenging her skills in everything from research, to updating WordPress, to communications, and interview facilitation. For her, being able to work on projects which made a meaningful impact to the businesses and people she was working with, was a key benefit of her Collaborative Future experience, and provided opportunities that many graduates and young people trying to find employment struggle to access.
“I think that’s one of the things that is hard for new graduates and people wanting to get their first bits of work - not being able to learn in the environment and from people. I think that’s really hard.”
Working with a range of business owners, the programme provided a safe environment for Lizzie to have a go at new skills in unfamiliar sectors. Many of the small businesses Collaborative Future work with value curiosity and a willingness to learn and try new things above hard skills, and interns can find themselves working on all sorts of projects in a variety of industries.
In the first two months of the programme Lizzie was placed with Amy at Woodgate Consulting, getting involved in a wide range of tasks including HTML coding, graphic design, and project improvement. Working as part of Amy’s team gave Lizzie her first experience of working remotely for a company, and gave her new insights into the kind of working practices she enjoys.
Later in the programme Lizzie worked with Rosie from Organised Fun, developing her research skills through carrying out interviews, and taking on more of a lead role for a research project Rosie had struggled to find the capacity for before taking on an intern. Rosie Hunnam, Founder of Organised Fun told us “After just two days working with us, I could see that Lizzie was reliable, friendly and trustworthy. This meant she could lead on some initial stakeholder interviews. This is testament to her skills and approach.”
It was this range of experiences, collaborating with many different businesses and teams, which helped Lizzie gain more clarity about her post-Collaborative Future goals. Now looking for work in the area of design research, the network she built up during her placement has been supportive and encouraging in her job hunt.
“I am sure that if I reached out to any of the people I have worked with they would try to help in any way that they can, such as providing references or answering any questions I have about the sector.”
The Collaborative Future placement helped Lizzie to get her first few experiences of working on live research projects, enabled her to get her foot in the door, and improved her ongoing employment prospects by giving her recent practical experience to show off her skills to potential employers.