Sarah Ellis
Literature Student, University of the Highlands and Islands
Marketing Intern (Virtual) at PE GI Solutions
They say it’s easy to capture a moment in time. Before my first day at PE GI Solutions as a Digital Marketing Intern, I had imagined that my first blog would be about just that – one moment of significance from the first week of my internship. However, I soon came to realise that it was impossible to write about one moment in time as there have been multiple moments which have been significant.
Starting my journey as a Saltire Scholar on the first day of my internship, I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement. I knew this was normal but looking back, I believe that the nerves were confounded by the fact that my internship was virtual. Can you fit in with an established team thousands of miles away? Can you really do something useful for them? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes. Right from the first onboarding session, I felt welcome and valued by the company.
By the end of day one, I felt like part of the team which was no mean feat considering that my Literature degree at the UHI may seem like it’s worlds away from corporate marketing – but actually, it’s not. I had heard of and understood the concept of transferrable skills (as I’m sure most students have), but I didn’t realise how applicable they were to me. For example, one of my projects is to complete search engine optimisation (SEO) for some blog posts. I’d never even heard of SEO and I felt my heart beat a little faster when I saw all the technical terms associated with it. However, once I got into it I realised that I did indeed have relevant transferable skills. SEO is all about the significance of words, just like Literature. I was able to apply my existing skills alongside skills I had gained from training at PE GI Solutions to understand SEO fully.
Alongside the SEO project, I will be working on projects to support PE GI Solutions’ physicians with marketing. This felt daunting at first as there is a level of responsibility associated with this, but I soon realised that my team were there to help. Far from being the rigid corporate structure I had seen portrayed on T.V., my department is structured vertically meaning that we can ask any member of the team questions. This is brilliant especially with project work as I can ask my questions to whoever set the task.
As far as goals are concerned, I’m remaining open-minded and keeping them broad for now. All I want to do is learn as much as I can from this amazing opportunity!
