Member Article

Student proves success of summer school scheme

This year, DiFFERENT advertising, design & marketing agency in Newcastle, opened its doors to students for summer. Candidates were carefully selected and welcomed in to the buzzing agency environment, one of which managed to secure a full time position. Over 27 weeks, an impressive 65 students joined teams in total including; account handling, planning, digital, design and creative.

Lucy Craigs attended summer school in July, and after her two week placement went on to secure a permanent position at DiFFERENT as Client Partner. “My placement was action packed, I was straight in at the deep end, attending photo shoots and writing job briefs; the experience was invaluable and securing a full time job from it really demonstrates the value of work placements.”

Along with the summer school initiative, DiFFERENT also ran a Creative Pioneers programme. The IPA initiative saw 100 businesses in creative and digital media sign up – joining the nationwide search for entrepreneurs. The successful candidates secured internships to showcase their talent. DiFFERENT were the only agency to be represented in the North East and secured internships for 4 candidates across Creative and Digital roles across a 3 month period.

Following this year’s success, DiFFERENT are already looking toward next summer and ways to improve their summer program for 2013; with the key objective being to fuse academia with real life. There is a substantial gap between students leaving education to entering the real world of work, one which DiFFERENT would like to bridge; giving students an insight to the industry they couldn’t get in a lecture theatre.

Managing Director, Yousaf Khalid, said “the challenge for higher education now more than ever is to equip students with relevant industry experience. The challenge for industry is to give new talent an opportunity to flourish. DiFFERENT Summer school is a chance for both sides to work together in a seamless way.”

Each student is given a bespoke training program to work through, depending on their interests and objectives. They gain real experience; communicating with clients, attending meetings, working on live jobs and at the end of their placement give their own pitch presentation.

Summer school will be back in full force from May 2013. The program will be exclusive; students must earn their place and prove they have what it takes to thrive in an agency environment. Applicants who stand out will be shortlisted and interviewed before winning their place. Have you got what it takes?

To register your interest please contact: Lucy Craigs – lcraigs@different-uk.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucy Jayne Craigs .