Our guest blog is written by Georgia, who has completed an undergraduate degree in Geography from Bristol University. She recently completed a Renewable Energy Internship via our partners WEXO, at a company that invest in and manage renewable energy projects throughout the UK.
I’m currently completing an internship at a small renewable energy company called Belltown Power in Bristol. The company has been employing interns since they started in early 2013, but I was the first intern to be employed in their Bristol office which looks after their renewable sites’ construction and operations.
I studied my undergraduate degree in Geography at Bristol University. Whilst at university, I had initially thought of pursuing a career in law but changed my mind during my final year. I therefore found myself having graduated with no real idea what I wanted to go into, so an internship seemed like a good idea to gain some experience and help me to make up my mind. I signed up to various internship websites, including WEXO, a partner to Step. They looked over my details and noticed I had previously viewed the Belltown internship advertised on their website. Following this, they emailed me to tell me that they thought I would be well suited to the role and should make an application. The application process was quick and easy, and Wexo were fast to get back to me if and when I had any questions. I was asked to come to Belltown for an interview in December and started my internship with them at the beginning of January.
I’ve been involved in a wide range of tasks since joining, spanning from data analysis to research tasks to general office administration. Being a small company with only around 15 employees, I was aware that this might be the case and at many times the office just needed an extra pair of hands to assist them in their operations. However, I found the varied experience invaluable in building my employability skills and developing my knowledge about the company’s operations. I was also pleased to see that my work was put to good use whilst I was there. For example, I was asked to report my data analysis on the company’s site operations to the rest of the Belltown team during our weekly meetings and even got the chance to account these directly to the company’s main investors.
I would definitely recommend that students undertake an internship if they have an opportunity whilst at university or beyond. Aside from the development of my abilities and expertise, it helped me figure out the kind of skills that I wanted to use in a future job. For example, I really enjoyed the data analysis work that I got involved in at Belltown, which pushed me to look for analytical roles such as management consultancy as a future career. In addition, I felt that it was useful to get some real office experience under my belt whilst still being paid. Now I feel much more confident to speak about my work experience during interviews and feel I will be much better prepared for office life when I take up a full-time graduate role later this year.
Since starting my internship, I have been offered a place on a management consultancy graduate scheme next September. I was able to talk about my experience at Belltown during my interview and really think that this helped in me ultimately being offered the position. I can’t thank the people at Belltown enough for providing me with such a great internship experience and hope to keep in touch with them in the future. In addition, the team at both Step and Wexo have been great in helping me to get the internship in the first place, as well as ensuring I get the most out of it whilst being here so thanks for all their help too!
Georgia