Intern story: Marketing Project Officer at Mercury Theatre, Colchester

• Internship Organisation: Mercury Theatre, Colchester
• Internship Role: Marketing Project Officer
• Length of Internship: 3 months

I graduated in the summer and was searching for what the next steps would be whilst working part-time at Tesco. It was a bit tricky looking for jobs and I wasn’t sure about an internship, but was open and signed up for all the graduate things the University of Essex offers. When I saw this internship that specified Theatre, it was appealing as it looked like a job that would require me to get really involved.

I saw internships as assisting those doing the job and learning how to implement it, but one week after I got here they sat me down and said “look, there’s this show coming up we would like you to lead the marketing for, and then there’s this one the following week we would like you to lead.” I was given leadership responsibility straightaway and was given my own shows to market.

There are loads of skills I’ve gained, time management, budgeting, the freedom to have this big long list of shows and work out what needs to be done, what I can delegate to our other intern who started off where I did.

My contract got extended to a Marketing Assistant role and then I was later offered a permanent job. My confidence and leadership ability has definitely been boosted. Would I recommend Essex Interns to graduates? That’s an easy yes. I got paid to do this and I ended up staying so you never know what may come out of it. Graduates may also find that the industry they want to work in may require an internship.