At Crocstar the upbeat nature, relaxed dress code and comfortable surroundings shocked me at first. It felt like one of those work environments you always hope for but never actually find.

Starting my undergraduate degree was one of the most nerve racking things I ever did, although it was matched by the first day at my internship. The nervousness, the dread and the worry of not being good enough. From the very start I assumed I would have to wear a suit, tie and shiny business shoes (a crime against comfort). But it was nothing like I expected.

Learning as you go

Whether it be researching and designing adverts, blog posts and social media content or learning methods by which a marketing agency operates, it felt gradual and consistent. I never felt any mistakes would be met by harsh criticism: rather reassurance, then correction.

I never felt pushed into something I didn’t understand but I was always kept on the edge of what I knew, allowing me to grow in ways I didn’t know I could.

I have learnt more at Crocstar in three months than I have in the last year of my undergraduate degree, and I owe it all to the passionate people and sincere help. Learning how social media campaigns are planned and implemented practically is a breath of fresh air from my academic studies that are based on theory.

Why don’t you try an internship?

To anyone with the facility to find a similar internship as mine – I urge you to go ahead and try it, you never know how great it will be. Information that can only really be obtained by working in a business is invaluable, such as using software like Trello, G Suite and Slack, along with Adobe Creative Suite.

Some things a university can’t teach: understanding your clients or the importance of maintaining a customer relationship by checking in and going over what they wanted.

This improved both my teamworking skills as I worked in an environment around passionate people where we divided tasks among us, along with enhancing my written and digital marketing knowledge.

The time I spent at Crocstar showed me what I want in a marketing career: expressing ideas and having the professional knowledge to implement those ideas, without all the pointless etiquette of what type of trousers I’m wearing (I hate work trousers).

Having fun at work

There is always more to learn and it’s a shame my time has come to an end with Crocstar but I’ll always value what I gained from this experience. Thank you Crocstar for showing me what fun I can have while also producing intriguing and engaging content both for consumers and businesses.

Tom Berrington joined Crocstar for a short but sweet internship on the DRIVEN programme at the University of Derby.