We were delighted to welcome Rowan to Higginson Strategy for a week of work experience. Rowan has kindly shared their fantastic feedback below!
“My work experience at Higginson Strategy has been one of the most important experiences in my life, giving me a great chance to learn about the communications industry. Throughout the week I was given meaningful work such as research on Faroe Islands fish and creating media lists of Irish journalists. These activities genuinely benefited the company and its work, rather than typical office chores like making coffee or running errands that you’d expect in any other work experience placement.
“I spent five days there, commuting to the office three days a week and working from home the remaining two. The wonderful team was consistently kind and welcoming, allowing me to learn more about what Higginson Strategy actually does as a company and how it helps its clients and organises campaigns. Everyone there was always happy to answer any queries I had and explain concepts and tasks in depth, whichever way I needed.
“As an inexperienced and socially inept teenager, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I felt safe and comfortable to ask questions about the business and, despite my initial apprehensiveness towards starting, I found that I could have a meaningful chat with my line manager at the start of the week about what I was hoping to get out of the experience.
“My favourite client to learn about was probably WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), an organisation that is campaigning for women to get the same amount of money in their state pensions as men. It promotes gender equality for all ages and advocates for women affected by the change in state pension laws in 1995 to receive their rightful compensation, contributing to the growing tide of women’s rights in the UK since 2015.
“I was provided with a laptop and a notebook for my work and was left to my own devices to complete the tasks assigned to me. This sense of autonomy and independence helped to train my self-discipline and productivity, teaching me about how to avoid procrastination and finish assignments confidently and to a good, acceptable standard within a reasonable time frame. These types of skills are transferable across almost every job and essential to maintain competency in a workplace setting and I was really glad that I was given the opportunity to hone them in a low-pressure environment.
“Overall, my experience was fantastic and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in exploring and learning about the world of PR and communications. You would gain practical experiences while being surrounded by a team of lovely people, all well-versed and professionals in their individual jobs and thoroughly equipped with the necessary tools to help you flourish and thrive during the week you spend there.”