In this article Tharshi Sennappan, our current Alumni Intern, tracks down Charlotte Mealings, who did an internship with us last year, to find out what Charlotte has been doing since she left the alumni team, and how her internship experiences have helped to shape her early career experiences.
Could you tell me the role that you are currently assigned to and the duties that are involved?
“An administrator at Citizens Advice. I take calls from clients and getting them booked in for appointments and there is a lot of data inputting which goes along with that. Creating new processes to help our service run better and communicating that across the whole team as well.”
What do you wish to pursue in the future, career wise?
“I definitely want to pursue things in the charity sector. Im quite interested in possibly fundraising but I’m not sure whether to go down that route to help charities run or go down the route of advising citizens. So, the job now helps me with both routes.”
How to do you think your previous internship with the Development and Alumni department has aided you to work efficiently in this role?
“It has given me really good base knowledge on all kind of different admin duties. For instance, I did a lot of data inputting and that was very valuable such as excel. Basics of an admin job yet showing me the different skills, you can gain from it. It was helpful, and it also gave me an opportunity to learn about gift giving side to things. It really opened my eyes to something new which really got me interested. I would never have imagined going down that path if I had not had that internship experience.”
What sort of knowledge and skills did you acquire from working with the Alumni team?
“More confidence in my ability in working within an office environment since it was my first time working in an office. Developed my data input skills and communication skills where I had to work on a social media presentation for everyone, so I developed my skill in that area as well.”
As a Hull graduate, what did you find out whilst working with the Alumni team, that you would not have otherwise known about?
“A deeper understanding of how the university gets its funding’s from so many different things which I had not thought of before. Different projects for instance, mental health awareness, campaigns, so many things like that which I did not know were run by the Alumni Department. There were so many events I went to during university which again I did not realise the Alumni Department was running. Which again showed me the impact the Alumni Department has on students and graduates.
Would you recommend this internship to another student? If so, why?
“Definitely, definitely I would. It opens so many different possibilities to yourself and you can try out so many different job roles. Working in the department provides you with various roles, so I would definitely recommend it as it gives you that breathe of experience and also it gets you thinking about what you wish to do.”
Internships can be useful, and it can be very valuable, especially during the pandemic. University of Hull providing such opportunities has aided Charlotte Mealing and will help me when pursuing my future career. I have already gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill in just three weeks and I look forward to what more this experience can provide me.
Interview by Tharshi Sennappan
University of Hull Alumni Association 