"a placement students' bible" - W / Elysia Filaitis (CX Insider Podcast

Speaker A: Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Put yourself into those opportunities because nothing's going to happen unless you make it happen. I think m the most important thing that I'd tell someone is even if it doesn't ask for a cover letter, do one university student looking for a place that is going to know. It's a grueling process. It's really difficult for me.

Speaker B: If they demonstrate that they are enthusiastic and they have knowledge, then you're only going to be onto a winner, really. In my opinion, they're the three things that I look for in account.

Speaker A: So the more initiative that you take, the more you, you're going to learn from it and the more you're going to be able to apply that to your future. It's only going to make you better.

Speaker C: Welcome back to the CX Insider podcast. I'm your new host, Timil Anne, and I'm joined here by my co host, Greg.

Speaker A: Hello.

Speaker C: And our very special guest today is Alicia. Ah, our current marketing executive, podcaster and editor, uh, at the CX Business center podcast. Welcome, Alicia.

Speaker A: Thank you. Sat on a different side of the sofa today.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's exciting.

Speaker C: So how does it feel being on the other side of the couch?

Speaker A: Yeah, it's weird. Like I like it. It's a different kind of pressure, but I like it. How to be A placement student 101 101.

Speaker C: Please enlighten us all.

Speaker A: Yeah, so, um, I'm currently on my placement year, so third year at university. I study at Loughborough University and I've, uh, just been doing my year of placement work here and I'll be going back to finish my degree in September, which I'm very excited about. But I'm kind of sad that this placement journey is coming to an end. But yeah, it has to happen at some point.

Speaker C: So I guess you've kind of already introduced yourself, but do you mind telling us how exactly you did find this placement and how was the whole recruitment process, the crazy ups and downs of it all?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean any, um, university student looking for a placement going to know it's a, it's a grueling process, it's really difficult. I mean, let alone just actually forget about the actual, you know, recruitment of it. Finding the job that you want to apply to is the first step and getting your CV ready, doing loads of interview prep before you even get an interview. You know, I really, I really milked the use of my careers hub at university, which I really recommend to everyone. Firstly, I started LinkedIn, was my best Friend. Right. I found all of my placements that I put in a list. Organization was my key friend as well. I used LinkedIn. Um, there's another website called um, Indeed, which you can use, and BrightNetwork, that's another one that I use.

Speaker C: I use BrightNetwork too.

Speaker A: Yeah, BrightNetwork, that was a good one. But I think that was more based to postgraduate schemes is what I found. Um, so for the actual placement industry placements, um, I use LinkedIn. And I just knew that I wanted to get into marketing. So my career, my degree at the moment is media and communications, but I wanted to do marketing. So I just searched in, like, marketing, went on the jobs, scoused, scoused, where I wanted to go. And I just, I saw, um, Podcaster. It came up as podcaster. And I was like, what is podcasting? That sounds so cool. So I applied to the job. Obviously you have to do your CV and your cover letter. I think, um, the most important thing that I'd tell someone is even if it doesn't ask for a cover letter, do one. Because it might not be a necessity, but it just shows that you're willing and you're caring and you're going to go the extra mile. Um, and you can get loads of help with it as well. You know, like I said with your careers hub, send it to them, ask it if it's okay. Ask for improvements. I think I did about a million drafts of my CV and cover letter before I actually sent it off.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then, yeah, the actual recruitment process was. It wasn't as, like, grueling as I thought it would be. It was still kind of a fairly long one. They also asked me to do, for this current placement, they might ask you to send in a couple of extra bits. So they asked me to send in a video of me talking about, um, I think who I would want to interview on a podcast. And I was like, okay, I know who I'm going to do. I'm going to do Cheryl Sandberg, who is the CEO of Facebook. And I talked about why, you know, I said, she's a feminist. She's leading the way for women in, uh, technology and STEM world. Um, I talked about that and I put my personality into it, I think, because obviously, because it's a podcasting position as well, you want to show that you're comfortable on camera. Um, I didn't actually do any editing, but when we've then come to the next recruitment process, we kind of thought it would be cool if someone did, like, animation or Something like that. So that's an extra mile that I didn't think of. But, um, obviously now from the other side of it, we see that that would be really cool. It would stand. It would be another way to make your. Your application stand out. You're never going to get penalized for going the extra mile. And then once I did that, I did my first round interview, which I just met a few people on a panel, which can be really daunting sometimes, especially, like, on teams. I'd never. I'd never really used teams before. Um, especially at uni. Like, I just didn't need to. So I was practicing the night before on the lingq, checking that I was going through. Is my camera working? Is my microphone working?

Speaker C: Being there five minutes before everyone.

Speaker A: Exactly. Sometimes like 10 minutes before everyone, just waiting on the call. Um, it's better than, like, being an hour late or something, because suddenly the technology is not working. Your wi fi is cut out. Um, also, at university, if you're, like, in a halls or a house, you know, tell everyone, I've got an interview. Like, guys, please be quiet. Everyone's going through it as well. So have a notice of your door saying, please, shh, you're walking past my room. And that. I can't even properly remember that one because, I mean, it feels so long ago now. Over a year ago now.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: Um, I think they just. They ask you the basic things. And again, use your career hub to do your mock interviews. Think about what you want to say as well. Um, the Star Star method is always a good one. You know, situation, uh, task, action, result, and reflection, I think, is what I used to use. And I had all my notes outside, like, my. Behind my computer, looking at them. Uh, do your prep as well. Do your prep. When we were doing the interviews this year and we asked people, like, what's your favorite podcast episode? And they've never even watched the podcast. Like, if you're applying for a job, do some background research into it. You know you want to. You wouldn't. You don't need to know, like, when was it founded? But at least know what you're walking in on. Because it's just as soon as you don't even know what you're applying for, they're just gonna be like, all right, next, next. Exactly. Um, and then the third. The third stage of the interview and the final stage was I had to create my own presentation of, like, if I were to create a podcast, what would it be? I remember I did a Chronicles of a She E. Oh. Which was like a play on words. I think it's been done a million times before.

Speaker B: Which good, though, really good.

Speaker A: And I enjoyed that. You know, you had to make your own logo and I still hadn't, like, properly grasped all. I mean, I was using Canva at that point in time. I'd never used Photoshop, but you're kind of displaying that you can. You've got the basic skills for it, right? And you can learn more. And then I got the call that day saying I got the super exciting. Tried not to cry on the phone. I was like, oh, my God, thank you so much. The process is over. I don't have to worry anymore. You know, it can get really tight, it can get really scary if it's. I mean, I think I got my placement in April, but I know some people, especially if you're taking the year out, I mean, worst thing comes to worse, just work from home, like work in a coffee shop. Uh, you can, you can try find like a placement in, like, December, you know, if everyone tries to find it before September. But if the worst thing comes to worse, like, you'll find something eventually. Um, so, yeah, that was the recruitment process. I mean, everything's different. I know that some places do, like, assessment Centers. And again, YouTube, you can use YouTube for that. Um, you can again, mock. Mock assessment centers. I think I used to get loads of emails through my, um, Loughborough email account saying, like, you can do a mock assessment centre in the Careers Hub. Like, just utilise everything, utilize it. Like, you're not always going to have that. The facilities to check your CVs and people that are going to be checking your cover letters and it's so, so important that you're using the help that you're given. Don't think I can do it on my own. Like, use what you're given, that's for sure.

Speaker C: It can be such a long and hard process. And then obviously from our end, we don't see everything on the other end. What the companies are thinking, what they're looking for, what stands out? And I guess that leads me to my next question is, Greg, when you're looking for an intern, what characteristics or what stands out to you in candidates? When you, like, he or he's going to be a good, A good placement.

Speaker B: It's a really good question, actually, because you're actually. So you're our seventh year of this placement program. I can't believe that it's gone so fast, but definitely over this, over, like the seven years that We've been hiring for this role. We've definitely got in a groove of looking for certain things for sure. I, I once heard uh, like uh, this, I get this philosophy or concept about hiring. Every company is different. Every role of course different. But generally a good philosophy to hire is try to hire based people, uh, based on those unteachable skills. So a lot of things people can learn and obviously you can teach and a lot of that is specific to the business or the role that they're going to be doing. Because people, if you hire the right person and um, they have the right other skill sets, which I'll talk about in a minute, you will be able to get them to a place where they're super effective in their role. But what's hard, harder to do is to teach people what they call the unteachable skills. So things like enthusiasm. I look for someone who is generally enthusiastic. Do they have an energy or a passion about their topic or interest. So if it's marketing or it's podcasting, I'm always looking, is there like a spark there in terms of like ah, a general level, a really you know, high level of enthusiasm and passion?

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker B: Yeah. You need that in the person because if you don't have that then there's not the sort of the self motivation that I think is crucial. Um, so I think like enthusiasm is one, I think a second key trait that's again bit of a not necessarily impossible to learn or you know, it's more of a self taught skill is like generally thinking outside the box or innovation basically is like are uh, are, is the candidates or are the candidates, are they demonstrating examples where they've actually innovated? So it could be in university work, it could be on personal projects outside, it could be a complete, you know, external to work in professional environment thing that they do. Um, it doesn't necessarily matter. But do they demonstrate skills of uh, innovating and thinking differently and thinking out outside the box? Those are two, the two most important for me and there is one more which is um, knowledge. So do they demonstrate knowledge in the right area? What I don't mean, but I don't mean they have to be completely like book smart and obviously necessarily achieving from an academic perspective. But do they demonstrate knowledge in the area that they are passionate about? Because that's a really good sign that they've combined passion with actual action and because that's the only way to attain the knowledge. So for me if they demonstrate that they're enthusiastic and they have knowledge, then you're only going to be onto a winner, really. In my opinion. They're the three things that I look for in a candidate. So it's not about like what they're projected for their degree or what course they're necessarily doing. Because I can tell you now, over the last seven years, we've hired from a variety of courses and more often than not, they're not actually marketing based courses. They can be media, could be pr, it can be, uh, Communications, English, Economics. M. Okay, economics. So. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I was thinking, I don't even know what course your degree is, honestly. But and to me it's not. That's not what's important. It's the individual that's important. And are they demonstrating those skills that uh, are more of the unteachable skills versus the teaching ones, especially when you're getting started in your career. That is the sort of the model that I. We've operated for the last few years. And I'd say it's worked out because we've have seven. We've had seven incredible candidates that we've, uh, selected. And every year it just keeps moving forward. So I don't know whether that's helpful to the audience or not. But I would say make sure you're focusing on the skills, your personal skills, that are not just academic. Can I do X, Y and Z that the job requires? Yes, but are you demonstrating enthusiasm? Are you demonstrating innovation? Do you have examples up your sleeve of where you've had to think differently? Those things are just as important in my opinion, if not more than, you know, some of the, more, like I say, academic M boxes you need to

Speaker C: tick because you can learn it all you want, but you can't. If you can't physically have the enthusiasm to do it, then it's not going to work out, I think.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, yeah. And I look at Alicia's interview, I looked at me at your interview. I remember very clearly, like when you came onto that interview, you're very smiley, enthusiastic, you're giving long, you, uh, know, elongated answers to the difficult questions. And that's because you're passionate. And like you, you had thought about in advance what questions might coming your way. And you're also passionate about your topic.

Speaker C: So I'm gonna blush.

Speaker B: But that's the truth. That is the truth. That's the reason why you're sat here and why you're sat here. That's it for me anyway. Okay, Alicia, first question for me. This is interesting to get to ask you questions now, which is Quite cool. Um, what was what, yeah, what did you find as the biggest, like, adjustment going from university life then into full time scary working life?

Speaker A: So much. So, so much.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, I'm gonna start off with the biggest positive, I think, which was having your weekends and being able to like, switch off and not have to be like, studying or revising or doing my coursework in the evenings. On the weekends, I actually get to enjoy my weekends. And that was like a huge one. And now part of me is kind of like, oh, my God, I have to go back to actually sitting in bed doing work.

Speaker C: Like 3am Writing coursework.

Speaker A: Exactly, exactly that. Um, so that was one big adjustment. I think the second big adjustment was, was like doing practical working instead of written essays and you know, the sort of knowledge literacy based things like that. I think it was for my learning style. I really enjoy learning as I do things and actually putting things into, like a practical sense. Um, that was a really nice adjustment, but again, that's something that, you know, you have to get used to. I think, um, for me personally, that's just my learning style. But for other people, you know, I can imagine that that could be like a big jump, being given autonomy and independence about what I'm doing. Again, it varies on what job you're doing and the specific people that, you know, you guys have given me so much autonomy and you basically gave me the podcast and went, here you go, here's your baby, raise it. You know. But that was like a lot.

Speaker C: Pushed you in the deep end.

Speaker A: Exactly that. It was a lot. But again, I found that's what really helped me learn, I suppose, knowing, should I do this or shouldn't, Should I wait and wait to be told to do this? And I always, I'm always like, quite big on show initiative and, you know, just go the extra mile. But equally as I think as a placement student, you don't always want to overstep and you don't want to be doing something. I didn't want to be like, am, um, I being too pushy or am I, you know, doing something that they just want me to slow down or that's not your job, like, pipe down a little bit. So, um, I think that was one thing that I kind of had to get used to. But then I quickly realized that you guys are like, do it, like, do what you want. Obviously asked for approval first, but, you know, it was also learning my own style of things. Because if you've not got too much experience, which we're placement students, you know, we're still at university. A lot of people have come straight from school, straight from A levels before that you've done GCSEs, so unless you've done like a summer internship or really done something outside in your extracurricular, you don't have that much experience to go off of. No one's expecting you to be perfect, you know, no one's expecting you to come in and be. I know everything. I'm a professional worker. Uh, like I've got 40 years in tech and real estate, you know. No one's accepting you to come in and know everything. So that was another adjustment, like actually holding myself to realistic expectations. I think everyone kind of goes in and thinks, oh, my God, like, it's okay to feel exactly like. I think, uh, it's such a big anxiety that I kind of felt was, well, if I go in and I don't, they. I don't know as much as they expect me to learn. They don't unless they've really. Unless you've lied on your CV about what you've not what, you know, like it says must be, must, um, be really good at Excel and Microsoft Office and Premiere Pro. Obviously don't lie if it's saying that you have to be really good. But no, um, one's expecting you to, like, come in and be a specialist unless they've said you need to be a specialist. Right.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So, um, I think that was another thing. It's just managing expectations. Like, don't hold yourself against something too high because you're still learning. And I think I've only just kind of found that balance now. You feel so much more confident after the placement year is actually insane. The difference in just sort of bringing yourself down, you've never done it before. So that was, um, I think my other big adjustment. Adjustment, yeah.

Speaker B: To add to that, maybe one thing just from my perspective, seeing, like the placement students come through every year, I would definitely say back yourself more, more, be more confident earlier on. Because you know that company, whether it's ACF or somewhere else, they have selected you for a reason. So they obviously believe in you and they think you've got skills, you've got passion, all the things we talked about. So don't forget to back yourself. Uh, come in and be as confident as you can. Like you say, I know there's always a line about, you know, what I do, what shouldn't I do, and things like that, for sure. But don't be afraid to back yourself and, um, bring your ideas to the table. It works particularly well for us because we do believe that we hire great people. So we give you responsibility because we know that you're going to do good things with it. Uh, every company is different. I appreciate from that perspective, but definitely don't be afraid as a placement student. So like, back yourself, do exactly what, what you've done, which is like, take on every challenge, push the boundaries, try and innovate in as many ways as you can. Run ideas past people. Like we're always talking about new ideas, about, can we do this with the podcast, can we do that? And I think that's a big, big thing for placement. Just because you are a placement student at the start of your career, it doesn't mean in any way, shape or form that your ideas and your, uh, energy coming into that business is any less valuable than anyone else in the business. If anything, we've always had the philosophy that the newest person with the newest ideas is often actually the most important because they're seeing it from a completely different sort of perspective. And therefore I think like, you know, as a placement student, don't be afraid to back yourself from, from the day dot and be as confident as you can and you know, navigate this working world in your own way, of course. But, um, believe in yourself like the age old, just believe in yourself at the start of your career because like, if you've got to where you are and you've got this role, you've got that for a reason. So back yourself and give it everything you've got. So that's what you've done. Right? So that's like, that is a good example of like what you can do if you just believe in yourself a little bit and then just keep moving forward.

Speaker C: So fake it till you make it.

Speaker A: Yeah. So the worst they can say is, no, not yet.

Speaker B: And don't forget you're like, you're gonna be in a professional working environment. So if you are heading down the wrong, uh, course on a certain project, like someone is gonna be there to correct you. Like if you starting to do something. I was like, I don't think that's quite right for the podcast. I would be the first person to send, look, it's a good idea, but I think we should do this. Like, so you're in an environment where you can fail. Like you said, you can fail. That's part of we, I felt all the time. Everyone in work fails all the time. And it's about, are you failing? Trying to achieve something new, trying to innovate, trying to do Something different. That's what you want to be failing at, because you're going to get it wrong more often than you're going to get it right quite commonly, and it's totally fine, so. Well, this is a. This is a tough one because, uh. Um, we talked about this with one of our guests who was head of Student Experience recently on one of the episodes. But how. How do you feel like University helped you prepare for a placement? You talked about, um, what department.

Speaker A: Sorry, was it my career hub?

Speaker B: The career hub. You mentioned that, for example, but. Yeah. How did university help you prep in terms of either societies or modules or projects or anything?

Speaker A: First, the main thing for me was my society. So I was a part, or I am a part of the dance society. And I took on some roles of, um, voluntary roles, but of high importance, I suppose, to keep that society running. You know, it's all student led. Um, so I did. I was the social secretary and event manager and I was also the choreographer of one of the dance teams. So I'll start with the, um, event manager and social secretary. That really, really helped me, I think, because it was. It's like a job. You're not getting paid for it, but it's a job.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: And, um, yeah, it is unpaid intern. Unpaid intern. But it's paid in the fact that you're getting experience. Yeah. So for my. For my role, you know, I had to. I planned all the events. I had to network with different people, network with different buildings and different restaurants, call them, check if we can use their venue, you know, count numbers, use spreadsheets, check the budgets, all things that I've used in this internship as well, and things that I'm sure I'll have to use in jobs further down the line. You know, it helped me practice Excel. It helped me learn how to use numbers a little bit more and, you know, take realistic measurements of counts. And, you know, we've got, let's say, 100 people coming to an event. We've got 100 wristbands. What if a wristband snaps? You know, what if a wristband snaps and they need entry and you've got them on the list, they don't have a wristband. Get some spares, you know, be prepared. Again, my. I suppose, choreographer. It's kind of a bit of a different one. It's kind of a bit more like. It's not a stretch, but you just have to see it in the right way. You know, I had to be very creative. That was using one part of my brain. It was a Completely different scenario to right now. But the thing that I did have to look out for was be really prepared because I think you have to be ready to be in a volatile market. Let's say you're in a volatile market, things might change. You know, uh, we do a lot of work with PR here. So if you release an episode or something happens, something gets posted and, you know, a PR team thinks that's actually against our regulations. And you can't do that. You have to be quick. Quick acting or, you know, you accidentally upload something that's sneak peek of, I don't know, next season and didn't want to post that right now. You need to be very quick. You know, someone messages you, you need to quickly take that away. Just like with my dance, I had practice in that because, you know, we had like a showcase coming up and someone drops out. You need to have an understudy. You need to have someone that is ready to jump into that role. And no one's going to be ready to jump into that role unless you tell them. So you, as the coach need to be looking for that problem. Look for problems before they have them. So you always have a solution for if something does come up. You know, costumes. You know, make sure they try on their costumes before the. Before the show. Same thing. You know, make sure the people with the podcast have got an episode plan before they come to the episode. Things like that. I think for my. My modules were really helpful. My practical work was more helpful. But my module help, like doing video communications. I did a lot of communication work and my psychology models were really helpful for this internship. And I think for my. They're going to be. They're going to continue to be really helpful throughout the rest of my career because psychology comes into everything. And I've been times where I've been sat on the sofa or in the couch with a guest and they're talking about things that I just. It just clicks with me because I think I learned about that. Things like, um, communication. You need to communicate with your workers. You know, even if it's like advertising and you're advertising something you need to convey. So that's a sign of communication. What words you're using, what's the syntax, how is it? How are you saying it? That's all things that I learned from my course. And they were really interesting. I think I found that really interesting in the psychology of perceived wait times. You know, we've talked about it so many times. Are you waiting for 10 minutes or do you just feel like you're waiting 10 minutes. And what psychology can you use to make you feel like that time's going a bit quicker? So things like that, would you say.

Speaker C: So your biggest advice to the students watching, would you tell them just to get involved in what it could be because you said like dance or I was like in bfs, just get involved. You never know what transferable skills you get from that.

Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. I mean it doesn't have to be dance, it doesn't have to be bff, it doesn't have to be anything specific. But if you're doing something, it's, you're learning something. So I think that's, that's my biggest probably, um, tip. And that's what helped me as well. You know how I said my, I mean I did dance for fun, right? That I didn't do it just because I thought it would look really good on my cv. I do dance because I enjoy it and I wanted to do the event management and I wanted to be a coach. But I also did know that I'd be learning things from it. So don't wait for opportunities to come to you. Put yourself into those opportunities. Opportunities, because nothing's going to happen unless you make it happen. So, and that's doing things and getting experience is the best way to learn, I think for me.

Speaker C: Okay, so I guess I'm going to ask, and this is really important to me as well. What does your typical day look like? What are the ins and outs? Do you have like a schedule? Is it varied day to day?

Speaker A: I think it depends on the person. Because I'm a very organized person, I like to have a schedule. I like to do things in kind of not a robotic way. But I like to know that I've got a system working out. So for this specific internship, it's not really like you've not in one. On one hand you've not got like a typical day to day because you might be going to an event, you might have to spend a bit longer doing a new opportunity or something like that. But on the most part you kind of do have a day to day. You know, you, it is a circle. I start with like planning the introduction calls, doing the introduction call, making an episode plan, booking the studio, recording the episode, producing the episode, editing the episode, doing the short form content and the social media and then posting it and then making sure that that's all okay, uploading it, advertising it, promoting it, and do it all over again with the next person. But so that's the, like that's the gist of it. But then you do get like given new tasks, you know, hey, Lycia, how you handling things? Have you got your feet on the, on the ground now? Do you want to pick up a marketing campaign? Do you want to do a new ad campaign? Do you want to learn how to do this marketing email? So you would be given new opportunities that you have to multitask alongside your usual day to day. And then you've got the um, events if you want to go to like a marketing event or an advertising event. So, um, also sometimes like team meetings and things like that. So it's not like a day to day strict, but I make myself strict

Speaker C: with it on that. I guess I can move on to the next question. Is there a specific project or event which you're really proud about that you did during your placement year?

Speaker A: You know, I think my biggest like thing that I was really happy about was kind of purging, purging what had been done before. Like, I think I really appreciate the way that the podcast was before. I think it was run always amazingly. And then when I was really grateful for was the fact that I was actually able to put my stamp on it. So I kind of, I think we had some kind of sales and marketing meeting and we had to pitch our ideas. So I pitched. You know, I thought it was kind of a bit far fetched. I didn't think I was going to be able to do everything that I pitched, but I was, um, you know, I wanted to change the thumbnails. I wanted to update them and using situational cues, you know, seeing current podcasts, what they look like. And I just personally felt that it was a little bit, we could have done more, just change it a little bit. There was nothing wrong with the thumbnails before they were. But everything needs changing every now and then. Doesn't mean it was bad before, it just means it's an update. Um, and then the same with like the introductions and stuff. I think I, I kind of taught myself how to do that kind of thing. So I'm sure it could be much better than it is now. But, um, I think I was quite proud of myself, teaching myself how to do that, um, and kind of having that vision and being able to use my creative instincts to do those kind of changes. Um, and then I was really proud of myself as well. Dan gave me like a marketing, um, an email campaign to do and I had never used the software platform before and it wasn't. I just never really thought of that as A job. Like, I didn't really realize how much work went on towards that, but I, um, was really proud of myself for picking it up. I mean, it took me a couple of weeks, don't get me wrong, but. But I was proud of myself for being able to do that and learning the new skill. I think I'm always pretty tap on the back when I learn something new because it's just a good feeling. But I think that that's probably what I'm most proud of. I think doing the thumbnails and doing the introduction, changing that, I think that's my most proud thing.

Speaker C: You did take a lot of initiative during your placement year.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think so much of it came from, I think the fact that I didn't have a huge, um, transfer process with my. My past intern. Obviously, you can never say no to too much training, but I think for my learning style, being able to just be thrown in the deep end and do it myself, like, that was really, really beneficial to me and I enjoyed it. And the team was so helpful as well, because I just remember I was on the phone to Dan every five minutes, like, dan, I need help. Dan, I need help. It's me again. Like. But yeah, um, and also, Greg was so supportive in telling me, like, do what you want. It's your podcast. You know, do what you want, Take your initiative. That's a good idea. Run with it, go with it. Like, and that was a lot of encouragement. I think that once, once I get kind of. Greg's like, yeah, that's a good idea. You should try that. I'm like, oh, okay.

Speaker B: That's really cool. Do you know what is a good thing to, um, I think of a good skill to demonstrate or to try out when you're in work, in a working environment is if you've got a new idea and someone says, like, run with it. The idea is to come up with the idea, work out how you're going to track and measure if it's good or bad. So did it succeed or did it fail? And then have that as a reportable.

Speaker C: Mhm.

Speaker B: Measurement stickers to whether it worked or. That's like a really underrated skill that I know it's simple and obvious, but very, very, uh, very commonly missed actually in any project. So if you've got a new idea and you've taken it, someone, they said, yep, thumbs up, go with it because it's a good idea. What you want to be thinking is, okay, how do I now make sure I track this? Or how am I going to measure this whether it worked or it didn't. And then how am I going to report that back to whoever it is, the business or the people around me so that we can all agree whether that worked or it didn't. And that's the thing to do with these new ideas is don't worry about the idea or get caught up on the idea being, like a personal thing. It's just, let's try the idea. Let's work out whether it worked or not. That's. I think that's an underrated skill, especially a placement student level that is so useful, because if you can do that, the business is just, like, super impressed that you've taken an idea, you've done it, you worked out whether it worked or not, and then you move on. So do we do it again or do we not? It's a good, good skill. Cool. Um, I think I've got one. One more question. It was, uh, just to do with advice to future students. You have given some, obviously, some really good advice throughout this podcast. Yeah, sure.

Speaker C: I'm, like, listening. I'm like, I should write this down there.

Speaker B: Uh, and I think, yeah, any. Any extra advice that you have for students out there applying or maybe on their placement.

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I think not to not repeat what I've already said. I'd say, um, make connections. Whether it's like, with your team, uh, make those connections because it will make your time so much more enjoyable as well. If you, like, get on and learn from other people and learn. Ask those silly questions like that you think are silly, but they're not. Like, ask. So what was your first job? How did you get into it? You know, I think I've asked you, I've asked Adam, I've asked all the team how they got into what they're doing. I mean, I'm asking because I want to know from them, but I'm also asking so I can figure out what I can do because there's so many jobs out there as well that you don't actually know exist. I didn't realize that customer experience was such a big thing before this role. And, um, I've learned so much about it that I'm now actually seriously considering a career in customer experience. And I think that's just so important to ask. Uh, everyone's been there, everyone's started out, and they're starting out from somewhere. So just get as many ideas as you can as to where you can start out and put that into your own work. You know, get your foot in the door somewhere. Yeah. I think that just the last piece of advice that I'd give someone is just show initiative. Don't take that kind of. That kind of personality trait where it's like, I'll do the bare minimum because that's what I'm being asked to do. The whole point of a placement is that you're learning, is that you're gaining something from it. You're not doing a placement to help the business out, they're doing it to help you out. So the more initiative that you take, the more you're going to learn from it and the more you're going to be able to apply that to your future. It's only going to make you better. It's not going to help the business whether you do more work or not. Like, I mean, it might, but, um, it's helping you. So really just take advantage of the year because you're not going to get an opportunity as amazing as your placement year.

Speaker C: I'm going to clip that.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker C: For the TikTok.

Speaker B: Awesome.

Speaker C: Okay, I guess I'm going to ask you a quick. Some few quick fire questions. What is your favorite coffee order?

Speaker A: My favorite fr.

Speaker B: We talked about this.

Speaker A: We talked about the other day. FR with milk, not water.

Speaker C: Um, um. Biggest work win so far.

Speaker A: Biggest work win getting this placement.

Speaker B: Yeah. What's one thing, um, that you miss about university that maybe you're looking forward to going back and experiencing again?

Speaker A: Living with my friends. Living with my friends.

Speaker C: The girl party.

Speaker A: The girl party. Like, it's just you're so close to everyone. Everyone's so easily accessible, even if you don't live with them. Like, they're five minutes down the road, you know, now I'm away from uni and my best friends are in, like, Leicester, Brighton, Exeter. Like, they're so far away. But yeah, yeah, that and dance as well. Taking advantage, um, of all the societies and stuff at such a low price.

Speaker B: I maybe ask one other one. So now that you've been a podcast host for the. For a year, you talked about interviewing the coo. I think it was Facebook before. Who would you interview now? Would you interview someone different if you could?

Speaker A: Yeah, well, I've not interviewed Sheryl Sandberg yet, so that is definitely still on the, um, the list of. I want, um. I think Simon Squib as well is definitely up there. He's like, doing so, so much amazing work for youths and like, to help other people. So I'd love to talk to him. Um, so many, so many people, I think. Um, yeah, so many people, but they're my top two.

Speaker B: Awesome. Well, if I can, I'll just say a quick thank you to you because you've obviously been an incredible host for the podcast this year. But, um, you really have done everything that you've said you've done in this, in this podcast episode in terms of like, applying yourself and like innovating and thinking differently. So I guess hats off to you for doing that because that takes courage, but it also takes a lot of hard work and I know you've done both this year, so, yeah, well done for. I, ah, think hopefully it's been a fun but also, um, productive and successful podcast year. So cut to, ah, episode in the future where we're interviewing Alicia as the expert. We'll cut this in a couple of years time, you'll be back on the podcast. So, yeah, well done to you and, uh, thank you. Yes, exciting.

Speaker C: I guess I have one more thing to say. It's just I'm so excited. You've got. You've left me such, like, big shoes to fill. Um, I just. Glowing reviews and I don't know how I will, but I'm just so excited to learn from you more. It.