After two successful internship placements, we look back at what the scheme has achieved so far.
Sandicliffe Motor Contracts started their Internship Scheme back in 2015 with the recruitment our first of Nottingham Trent University undergrad, Jonathan Myers.
Jonathan joined the team as our first Marketing Intern to help support a growing Sales & Marketing division. SMC were also keen to attract new talent to the motor and leasing industry and get young people enthused about working in the sector.
SMC’s Internship Scheme helps to give students the chance to gain valuable work experience, something that is vital for students once they leave university looking for a job. According to UCAS, “two thirds of employers look for graduates with relevant work experience because it helps them prepare for work and develop general business awareness.”[1]
After such a successful placement, SMC teamed up with Nottingham Trent University for another year and recruited our second Marketing Intern, Ben Lodge.
What are our Interns up to today?
Following his year-long residency at SMC, Jonathan returned to university to finish his final year of his Business and Marketing Degree.
Graduating in summer 2017, Jonathan left university with a 2:1 classification. He has been working for the past year as a New Business Sales Executive at Text Marketer, an IT Communications company who specialise in SMS marketing. Commenting on his time at SMC, Jonathan said:
“My internship gave me the perfect opportunity to get hands-on experience in lots of areas of marketing but the area I realised I enjoyed most, was working with the sales team on lead generation.
“After returning to university after my placement, I found the transferable skills I had gained could help me with my coursework in my final year. I could now relate the theory that was covered in my lectures to real-world examples.
“Having worked so closely with the sales team at SMC I made the decision after graduating to make the switch from marketing to sales. I feel having both a marketing degree and work experience helps me to place myself in my customers shoes and understand their needs. I would strongly recommend for any student to take the time out to complete a work placement as my time at SMC certainly enhanced my development.”
Our most recent intern Ben Lodge graduated in July 2018 with a First Class in Marketing. Ready to start his two-year commercial marketing programme with Centrica in October, Ben reflects on his internship with SMC:
“’The internship scheme at Sandicliffe Motor Contracts provided me with a great insight into what a career in marketing entails. The scheme was invaluable in helping me to develop my business acumen and my core skills such as organisation and communication.
“I believe that this opportunity played a big role in me going onto graduate with First Class Honours in Marketing and I’m extremely grateful to everyone at SMC who helped make my 12 months such a memorable experience.”
Based in various locations in and around London, with thanks to his time at SMC, Ben is feeling fully equipped to tackle his next big career opportunity with Centrica.
Could your business benefit from an Intern?
After such success with both our Marketing Interns, SMC would certainly recommended Internship recruitment to like-minded businesses.
“Both Jonathan and Ben were such assets to our team,” commented SMC Managing Director, Alastair Houston.
“The speed in which they adapted to work life was extremely positive. The hunger and desire to get on and do a great job was inspiring in such young and relatively inexperienced individuals.
“Recruitment is an ongoing challenge for many businesses and we would certainly consider recruiting more interns at SMC, not just in marketing but in other areas of the business too.”
Paul Nichol, Senior Marketing Executive at SMC went on to say, “We couldn’t recommend Nottingham Trent University more for internship recruitment. The two students were of an extremely high calibre.”
As well as the obvious benefit in filling a vacant position in your business, Nottingham Trent University share a number of other benefits of recruiting their students:
- a cost-effective way to access fresh talent
- an opportunity to trial potential future employees
- fresh ideas, new skills and the latest knowledge into your business
- access to specialist expertise and resources
- a great way to raise your profile as a prospective graduate employer
For more information, call the Nottingham Trent University Employability team on 0115 848 8899 or email [email protected].
[1] UCAS https://www.ucas.com/connect/blogs/work-experience-important
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