The devil doesn't wear Paul Smith

by Charlotte Lafferty

After graduating from a 'hands-on' Fashion and Textile Management degree at Nothingham Trent, Samantha Willis came to London to start her career in marketing.

So devoted, she even sold the Fiat 500 from her dad, in order to afford the move and a wealth of unpaid internships.

Finally after a successful four month internship at Paul Smith, attained through “badgering and persistence”, she was offered a full-time job as digital and e-commerce assistant and rubs shoulders with Paul on a daily basis.

While the start of her internship consisted of “moving boxes, running errands and photocopying”, Samantha urges patience, “once they know you are capable they will get you more involved”.

Considering the wealth of people graduating from similar degrees, Samantha admits “the only thing that separates you from the rest is internships; you’re not going to get employed without them”.

The interning experience also lets you know what jobs you really don’t want, often, the ones that look glamorous from the outside are anything but once you get in.

For her compulsory industry placement, Samantha worked in fashion and retail personnel and while she admits that it was “absolutely not what I wanted to do” the experience was a useful benchmark for jobs to avoid.

There are also advantages for the employer, apart from the benefits of free employees.

Samantha believes that interns bring “fresh, young ideas” to the company, and that the benefits of having people that are “enthusiastic, and willing to work” are unrivalled.

Samantha thinks unpaid internships are unfair, though argues that there are other forms of experience that can help you stand out from the rest.

Choosing a part time job in a field you are interested in can be very beneficial in providing paid learning while at university.

Samantha found that her five years of experience in retail in shops Jaeger, Next and Paul Smith, was a great platform for her career, “retail experience is relative to marketing and it can be a great foundation for getting that job”.

Now she’s working for the company she interned for, Samantha sees how the process of employing internships is carried out, revealing that “it’s a lot of hassle employing an intern.

"Its so hard to organise, it takes a lot of time out of people’s schedules and for the amount of hassle and period of time the intern can work it is often not worth it."

So while you might groan at having to tailor your CV again or the horrors of interviews, employers often feel the same.

Samantha’s closing comments highlight the best thing about internships, they show that you share something with employers, that they’re people like you and suddenly that dream job doesn’t seem so unattainble.

 

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 For great internship listings, visit Gorkana and Career Services.