Work experience at Cosmic in 2016 | Cosmic

Work experience at Cosmic in 2016

TypingCosmic have recently offered work experience placements to a number of students from local schools and colleges.

During their time with Cosmic, the students have been able to spend time with different members of our team to learn about our various different services, getting an insight into how Cosmic works as a business and learning skills that can help them adapt into a business environment when they leave full time education.

Whilst learning about website development, digital marketing, business consultancy and more, we asked the students to keep a blog diary of their time at Cosmic - these can be found here.

Josh Elliott-Smith spent time with Cosmic's upper management to learn all about running a business and our consultancy services. Josh kept a recording of his work during the week he was at Cosmic and you can read it here.

"Doing work experience at Cosmic has been a really interesting yet challenging week for me. I've found throughout that I've been pushed out of my comfort zone, and have come out the other side with new ideas and skills that I never would've thought I would get out of this week , and I'm sure will benefit me in the future. I would definately reccomend doing your work experience at Cosmic if you're interested in any area of IT."

Bethany Jacobs was placed in the marketing team, learning all about social media and digital marketing techniques in which she already had a strong interest. Bethany also spent some time with the web team to learn about what they do at Cosmic, and also looked at the first steps to setting up a website for a customer. Bethany's blog can be read here.

"My work experience at Cosmic has been so enjoyable. I have achieved so many new and different skills meanwhile improving in my weaker areas. Everyone has been so nice, welcoming and helpful throughout this week. I really enjoyed this week and this has given me an insight to my future. I recommend Cosmic to students wanting to develop their skills in business and IT for their work experience."

Ben Levy spent time primarily with the web team and was able to learn about all of the processes and techniques the Cosmic web team use to craft brilliant websites for customers. Ben created his own example client website, as well as keeping a day by day blog which you can read here.

"I will take these skills further into my life and keep improving on them at home. I think working here has really given me motivation to take a career in the IT area of work as it is becoming more and more popular in our world of technological progression."

Belinda Sanders-Carr spent a day with Cosmic's digital marketing team to learn all about social media, content creation and content curation. Belinda also wrote a blog for the Cosmic website about educational apps and how they can help with your studies.

"Here at Cosmic they do everything from helping charities set up pages/profiles online to working with companies to kick-start their websites. On top of that, this company offers free training for those who want to learn either how to use social media for their business or to widen their knowledge of social media in general. There’s a lot within this company to learn about, that’s for sure. Although it doesn’t seem like being a social media specialist can be a 9-5 job, there is so much to do behind the scenes; And that’s what I learnt. Helen Botrill, who I was working with, was constantly tapping away at her computer and also had 1-2-1 meetings with customers wanting help setting up a page/profile for their businesses. Therefore, there was always something for me to be doing too. I was doing research then writing blogs and making visuals. It always seems like there is something to be doing; And everything that is being done and paid for only goes back into the community. This is called being a social enterprise. Because Cosmic is a social enterprise it means that they choose not to take the profits of their business themselves but they spend it within the community to help benefit them and to make the internet available for everyone.

I came into Cosmic after taking an interest in social media and blog writing and I’m leaving today with a much wider understanding of what it’s really like to work within those sectors. Doing work experience here has made me realise how much really goes into a single blog post or meeting. Not only am I included in meetings but I’m given set tasks to complete and the explanations are very clear. Their main focus is to help you and make sure you know what you’ve got to do. Reading loads of blog post of all kinds in my life time but not knowing what really goes into them has always been something that’s bothered me slightly. After experiencing first-hand the goings on behind a blog post, its’ filled a hole and I can now truly appreciate how much effort has been put in. It is so much more professional to the average person sitting on their bed writing a blog about fashion."

Jack BukinInterested in work experience with Cosmic?

What is work experience with Cosmic like?

Work experience at Cosmic is supportive and realistic- you won’t just be making the tea and coffee! We try our best to give students the chance to work on similar projects as our staff and support them to deliver pieces of work which are actually used on the Cosmic website and sent out to our customers. We believe that real life experience is the best way to learn so we do everything possible to make your work experience a realistic representation of an average week here at Cosmic.

Each work experience student gets a tailored package of work to complete in the week which is structured around their interests and what they’d most like to gain experience in at Cosmic. Wherever possible these tasks relate to real pieces of work that the Cosmic team do on a day to day basis such as creating infographics, writing blogs, designing websites and customer service. This means that each student gets an individual experience which is a real reflection of every day work.

What work experience do we offer at Cosmic?

The type of work experience we can offer at Cosmic is hugely varied and can often depend very much on the student who is applying. We are primarily a digital company but because we are also a social enterprise this often attracts students interested in this side of our business too.

In the past our work experience students have worked on:

It’s fair to say that there is often a lot of cross-over in our business so most students get to experience bits and pieces of all of these areas and if you are looking for something more specific that isn’t listed here, please contact us and we’ll do our best to accommodate it.

What sort of work experience students do we look for?

Generally work experience students who come to Cosmic have a positive, can-do attitude. They are normally good independent workers with strong ethics and a passion for digital technology of some sort whether this be graphic design or computer gaming. They also match the majority of Cosmic’s values; to be friendly, ethical, inspirational, supportive and innovative. It also helps if you have a basic prior understanding of social enterprise.

How to apply for work experience at Cosmic

We are looking for work experience applications now!

You can apply for work experience by sending us an email at info@cosmic.org.uk answering the following questions:

  • Why you would like to specifically have a work experience opportunity with us
  • What areas interest you the most
  • Why should we choose you
  • Tell us something interesting about yourself

In your application you should also include your name, contact details and a summary of your skills and experience.

Applications are open until 1st November 2016 for the 2016/17 school year. We will then telephone interview those we feel met our criteria and will offer placements in the following weeks.