We’ve had the pleasure of welcoming a work experience student to the PeopleUnboxed team this past month, and what a fantastic addition they’ve been! 

From day one, Kloe brought a brilliant mix of passion, positivity and professionalism that really stood out. With a clear drive to give her best in everything she did, Kloe embraced every task with maturity beyond her years. One of her final projects was to write a blog reflecting on her time with us – and we think it perfectly captures the energy and insight they brought to the team. 

Take a read below, in Kloe’s words…

In the weeks before my work experience, I was nervous, excited, and curious as to what sort of work I would be doing. I chose PeopleUnboxed to complete my work experience because of my interest in what the organisation stands for. My Mum, Kate, works as a Mental Health & Wellbeing Consultant for the company, therefore, I had a clear idea of the company values and ethos before I began. Having the knowledge of these, made my decision extremely easy to choose PeopleUnboxed.

Starting any new role or work experience comes with a steep learning curve… but what made a real difference was the reassurance that I wasn’t expected to have all the answers from day one. One of the best things you can do during your work experience is to ask questions. This can show your interest in the company and give those supporting you during your work experience a fine indicator of what sort of help you are needing. I was able to do this as the team at PeopleUnboxed were easy to get on with and were super helpful in answering any questions I had straight away.

In charge of arranging my work experience and leading me through my weekly schedule, was Jo Stanley, who takes on the Training Consultant role in the company. My excitement grew as I was happy to see that my work experience would involve speaking to different people who have a variety of roles, so I could experience all distinct aspects of the company. I think this is extremely effective for showing off the company to a work experience candidate, because it shows the inner workings and individuals’ roles in the business. This may spark inspiration for the work experience person, in the future. My schedule included teams’ calls, face-to-face experiences, and project work. Jo did a brilliant job at making sure I had my questions answered, she showed support and gave me places of contact if I needed any extra support or had any outstanding questions when she was unavailable. This settled and relaxed my nerves which I feel is particularly important when starting work experience, so that the person can gain the most out of it.

My first task was to watch an online seminar about Positive Intelligence and Saboteurs, for those reading who do not know what this means, neither did I. Saboteurs are the voices in your head that generate negative emotions as you manage life’s everyday challenges. Positive intelligence is understanding what our saboteurs are, recognising how it makes our mind work against us and effects our behaviour. Arlene (Leadership Training Consultant) and Jo explained through the online seminar about how these effect people and what the benefits are to having mental fitness and resilience. This was extremely helpful to start off my work experience as I was able to understand what I struggle with and how to deal with these to enhance my performance and resilience at work.

I then travelled to the Isle of Wight to observe a session about Managing Mental Health in the Workplace. During the session, Kate, who was leading, showed her passion and expertise to the company managers about the mental health topic which managed to engage the participants to get involved during the session. The concepts Kate was delivering were easy to understand to a non-specialist audience, like me and the participants.

The following day was packed full of exciting teams calls where I discussed branding, how to deliver a day of training and how you consult with the customer to complete a training needs analysis. First, was my call with Lucy, Team Enabler, who introduced me to the world of branding. This included updating PowerPoints to new company branding. This was one of my favourite parts of my work experience as I have an eye for design and a passion for making things look uniformed and beautiful. During my time with Lucy, I edited my own PowerPoint and had to change the old slides to the new branding. Being able to create this myself, as a visual learner, really helped me to be able to grasp the techniques quickly.

Next, I had a meeting with Arlene, where we discussed what her job role requires and what she loves about it. During our time together, I could feel the passion for her job radiating from her, which for me, is especially important because it indicates that her job must be brilliant. We discussed the leadership programmes she delivers and how establishing relationships with clients is so important.

My third call of the day was with Paul, Digital Director. In our meeting, we discussed what his job role offers, and he lived up to his name of the technology ‘God.’ Before my work experience, I started using the online learning app BentoBot, which is the platform PeopleUnboxed use to support embedding learning, for my A-level revision. Paul led me through how to use this more thoroughly, which really helped me out and I will continue to use these tips in the future. Paul also oversees the podcast PeopleUnplugged and has given me the opportunity to talk about my work experience, to help give an insight in to what work experience is like with PeopleUnboxed.

These meetings really helped me gain an understanding of what diverse types of jobs there are in the company. Lucy, Arlene, and Paul showed me how enthusiastic they are about the company and the love they have for what they do, which has inspired me to look for something that I really want to do in the future so I can have the same positivity as them.

My wrap up conversation after week one, helped me to settle any nerves about the new week to come.

The new week began, and started off with an alignment call with Jo Stanley, where we discussed how my previous week had gone.

I spent time with Rachel, Brand Manager, and during this discussion she explained the importance of branding and marketing techniques to ensure the company keeps uniformed and current. Rachel’s job is extremely important as she creates the image that customers see when they first encounter the company, it is all about first impressions. The first time I accessed the website, the colours were cohesive and clear, everything was extremely easy to find and that the strong brand of the company came through immediately. This is crucial for PeopleUnboxed as the ethos of their brand is inclusive and accessible, therefore their image needs to match. With guidance from Rachel, I began to create social media posts for the company’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages. This included promotion for an upcoming qualification opportunity and creating a Monday Meme to be posted on their social media pages, to uplift everyone on a Monday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this because as I am 17, I spend a lot of time on social media. It was great to be given a better insight on how to create posts from a brand perspective and not just personal posts.

I was able to join one of the bi-weekly meetings where all of the team discuss their reflections on the past week or two. This includes how sessions have gone, and consulting on how recent changes to the company are working or how they can improve. Another point of discussion for this meeting, was establishing or maintaining relationships with their customers, this included the recent conversations that were had, to show the team how things are looking for the future.

I had the opportunity to travel to London to meet the Gü team to watch a training session on Presentation Skills. I found this extremely helpful to being able to be more confident whilst speaking in front of people. The session included the skills of breathing techniques and how to calm nerves.

After the session was my wrap up call and final chat with Jo. Paul, Rachel, and Lucy also popped in on this meeting to give me direct feedback which was lovely to hear from the person themselves. It showed how much they all care about people who do work experience with them, as they took time out of their busy schedule to chat to me, again. I know this may not be the same in other companies.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to do work experience with PeopleUnboxed; they have taught me skills that I will use not just in my future career but also in life. Thank you so much to Jo and all the team who have put together the work, activities and courses for me to complete to make the most out of this work experience. I would recommend to anyone to do work experience with this company.

We couldn’t be more impressed with Kloe and the energy and enthusiasm she brought to her time with us. It’s been an absolute pleasure having her as part of the PeopleUnboxed team, and we’ve loved hearing her reflections on everything she experienced and learned.

Not only did she throw herself into every task with positivity and purpose, but she also offered some brilliant suggestions for how we can make the work experience even better for future students… ideas we’ll definitely be taking on board.

We’re incredibly grateful for her contribution, and we hope this isn’t the last we see of her. Wishing you all the best, Kloe!

If you want anymore information about work experience opportunities please reach out via email.