My work experience at Freshfield by Evie Turner

Written by Evie Turner, a Year 10 student at All Hallows Catholic High School.

When I got told I had work experience I was unsure what I wanted to do. However, I knew I wanted to work at a place where I could explore a completely new environment, learn new skills and understand the ins and outs of a business.

For me, work experience is about experiencing the feeling of day-to-day work life, and maybe even finding out what you would like to do in the future.

This week, I have had the opportunity to work at Freshfield and I have really enjoyed it. My understanding and knowledge about PR and business has really developed, considering I barely knew anything about it this time last week.

My jobs

Coming into the office I was quite nervous, as I didn’t know the environment or people too well but after the first day I was completely fine.

On my first day, I was introduced to Jacqueline who taught me how to upload articles to a website, and how to edit articles, so that they meet expectations. After that, Paul gave me a task to do some research about Blackpool Air Show and make an information dossier for a client.

Further on in the week, Sally, the business operations manager, taught me about her job, and the variety of tasks she does on a daily basis. It was interesting to see all the different sides of working for a PR business, and the most interesting part was learning how big the range of finance and business tasks there are, from simple things like buying fruit to more complex things such as wages, invoicing and helping with mental health. Sally also makes the best iced caramel latte!

I also did the Euro 2024 office sweep stake, which was fun. I got Denmark and Belgium.

New skills

During my time, I have learnt so many new skills, like simply how to use my keyboard to copy and paste, to more developed things like how to upload articles to a website, and what readability requirements it needs to meet.

I have learnt how to structure and write an email formally, and even experienced a meeting and learnt what the atmosphere is like. Coming in on my first day, I didn’t have that much understanding about what PR is (even though my dad is in PR!), but over the days, it has become so much simpler to understand what it is and what it’s like working in business and for a PR agency.

The atmosphere in the Freshfield office is really nice, as everyone is really welcoming and inclusive, and the team seem to have a really strong relationship, which is key in a working environment. Everyone was very patient with me, and they were always giving good advice and offering to help, despite having their own heavy workloads.

Takeaways

Overall, I have really enjoyed my week at Freshfield. It has been not only educational, but also enjoyable. I am really grateful for all the time and effort the team put in this week and it really paid off because I have developed an understanding of not only business and marketing, but finance and the whole world of work.