Dream Placement puts Luci in the marketing picture

A HANDS-ON week of work experience at Lakes College gave a Cumbrian sixth former a closer look at life in her dream career.
Sixth form student Luci Arnott, who has a keen interest in marketing, got an insight into the industry by working closely with the marketing and careers teams as part of the Dream Placement scheme managed by the Centre for Leadership Performance.
Luci was tasked with planning an open event to promote the college’s T-levels offering and delivering a presentation on her vision to the college’s careers leader, Hannah Pears, and members of the marketing department.
And the 16-year-old has penned an insightful blog on her experience and how it affected her career ambitions.
Luci said: “My name is Luci and I have just spent a week on Dream Placement at Lakes College.
My career aspirations are to become a manager or be in marketing.
I have spent the week in the marketing department with Jenny, Holly, Liam, and Hannah (careers leader).
They really made me feel like part of the team.
I got hands-on experience of leadership in the workplace by attending meetings with heads of departments, the HR manager for Copeland Borough Council and the executive team.
They advised me on what skills I need for future employment and gave me advice on how to get there.
I also took part in skills development sessions such as safeguarding and health and safety.
This work experience has shown me what skills and knowledge you need to have to be in the marketing team within an organisation.
These would be being proactive (especially in problem solving), showing initiative and having confidence.

Day one

• I was given a tour of the college to get to know my environment by Holly, who showed me everything there is to know about Lakes College and if there were any queries told me that I should not hesitate to ask
• I had a meeting with the marketing manager Jenny and her team to go through what their function is and what my project is
• I then had a meeting with Rachel, who is the VR developer
• I also completed assignments for safeguarding and health and safety in which I received certificates for evidence to use in future employment
• As the college knew I had an interest in fashion they set me up on a call with UCLan to talk about their fashion promotion course with the fashion academic
• I then had a meeting with Lisa, the inclusive learning leader, who told me about her role in the college and demonstrated her leadership qualities
• I had a meeting with Karen, the deputy principal, and Daniel, the assistant principal, and they talked to me about their role and how they got there, advised me on how to sell myself with a unique selling point, and Daniel also gave me little projects to do which gave me an idea of what an employee would be given
• Then Workington MP Mark Jenkinson arrived to speak to SEND students and I helped set up the area and observed Holly and Jenny demonstrating organisation and leadership skills by putting together the event and taking photos to be used for the newsletter

Day two

• Today I started my project of creating and promoting an event for T-levels which I researched and put together with my knowledge from GCSE and A-level business studies to create a strategy and marketing plan for the event
• Holly and Liam were there to support as they are the experts in marketing and really know what they’re doing; they know how to target different audiences and what not to do
• I also got to see the things they were doing such as designing posters and making newsletters to promote breaking news at the college

Day three

• This day was a Dream Placement leadership session online, with a halfway check up on how we are displaying skills in the workplace and giving examples of where we have seen leadership
• Then I finished some of my project bits off so it was ready to be presented on Friday

Day four

• On Thursday I met Hannah and had a meeting to see how I am doing and start with my workbook, which is useful when I come to write my personal statement and describe my experience at Lakes College
• I then met Neil, head of HR and his team Megan and Paula, who were lovely and gave me information about what HR do and how they help the college
• I then had a call with Claire, HR manager for Copeland Borough Council, who is an external help for the college and demonstrates key skills such as organisation, leadership and knowledge
• I then got to take part in observing Hannah doing some interviews with potential future college students and she displayed professionalism and confidence
• I had a meeting with the finance team, Martin and Helen, who were very welcoming and showed me how they used certain platforms and websites to keep all financial information such as payments and invoices on the computer system which I thought this was interesting to see how the business side of the college works
• I then finished my presentation project ready for tomorrow

Day five

• Hannah gave me information on how to apply for university using UCAS and how to sell myself on a personal statement
• I was given a mini task to research and create two posters for career opportunities in Cumbria for college students
• Then I got to present my project to the careers leader and the marketing team; they gave me useful feedback and asked me questions to challenge my knowledge about T-Levels which further developed my confidence, communication and professional presentation skills

This experience has been wonderful and I would encourage other young people to get yourself out there and apply for Dream Placement for next year and work experience for companies around Cumbria. You are helping them and they are helping you. It’s a win-win situation!
Thank you to Hannah, Jenny, Liam, and Holly, who have really helped me develop my skills in marketing and in other aspects of life.