Impact’s work with School Interns
Impact is committed to take 10 interns a year from local schools in Hackney and over time we have developed the way we train interns to ensure the experience is hugely beneficial to them and our team.
Every school now has a commitment to source work experience for every student and it’s a hugely valuable tool to build essential workplace skills and inspire youngsters in to meaningful careers. We work with Inspire!, a Hackney charity and they are responsible for sourcing our interns from local schools.
The way we work with interns is also very important. During their time with us, all team members are encouraged to get involved and give some of their time in a meaningful way. All interns have a job spec we work through and concentrates on learning duties, responsibilities and behaviours expected in an office environment.
It is our belief that the more positive experience school students have at Impact, the more benefit it will give them in the future. Significantly, it’s also a hugely positive experience for the Impact team who are all so keen to give time and effort in giving the interns the most productive and memorable week at Impact. I’d encourage all companies to do their bit and take on more interns, as it’s a hugely positive experience for all. Don’t take my word for it – This is Daniel, who was our most recent Intern:
“Work experience is meant to be a bland, boring and arduous look into the uncreative world of work that most kids dread after leaving school, but my experience at Impact has been nothing of the sort. I was welcomed by the warm atmosphere of the office. Music streamed out of the many Sonos speakers around the room and there was colour popping out of every wall, desk and bookshelf. The pool table and portraits of pop culture icons on any free space of wall immediately told me this wasn’t going to be a cookie cutter workplace. There is even a life size cardboard cut-out of the queen sitting quite ominously in the corner.
I met all the members of the temp support, finance, HR, perm support and marketing teams, who I would come to work with and get to know over the course of the week. The diversity in all these teams makes it clear why Impact is so good at what they do as they welcome not only candidates from all walks of life, but also employees. The lenient dress code creates a sense of individualism that lacks in many offices and this only adds to the great sense of community here at Impact.
In the week I was able to shadow registrations of new candidates and get a look into how Impact is able to find people their perfect job by getting a sense of the person through these face to face interviews. I also got a good look into the complex world of LinkedIn thanks to the finance team and how they whittle down candidates using their vast database to find the best person for their clients role. I’ve also been shown the “do’s and don’ts” of CV writing which will come in great help when I’m looking for my own job in the future. I was also able to go on a meeting at a top Creative Media company to get a brief for a new role, and was given the responsibility to write the advertisement for it on the Impact website.
Finally, as a fifteen year old, and definitely the youngest member of the team at Impact, I never felt babied by anyone here at Impact and was treated with the utmost respect. I never got asked to make anyone a hot drink (and was actually offered at least three a day) and was given worthwhile and satisfying work throughout my time here. I would recommend interning here for anyone, even if you’re not looking into going into the recruitment sector, just to see how a successful, creative company runs.”
