Intern story: Marketing Intern at Care UK

Many think interns are brought in to assist those doing the ‘real’ job, or to make the teas and coffees, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. During my first week as a Marketing intern at Care UK, I was given a number of projects to lead on. My confidence, time management and organisational skills improved as a result of the responsibilities I was given!

During the summer of my penultimate year at The University of Essex, I decided to apply for a full-time 3 month Marketing Intern role at Care UK. I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do as a career but I knew I was creative and had an interest in writing so I thought, why not apply for something in marketing!

I was lucky enough to be offered the internship and I am so thankful for the doors it opened for me! I started with Care UK as an intern in 2017. I was responsible for managing the production of marketing materials from end-to-end, as well as collating and writing new content for the external websites.

I returned as a Marketing Executive in 2018 and when an opportunity came up to become the Communications Manager for healthcare in prisons in 2019, I jumped at the chance.

In just three years, I have gone from intern to a manager within the senior leadership team - at just 22 years old! This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for my initial internship.

My advice to anyone who is not sure what they want to do as a career is to apply for an internship with Essex Interns as you never know where it could lead. The job market for graduates is competitive, so any experience is better than no experience, and you may even be offered a permanent position out of it!

I really can’t thank Essex Interns enough for the opportunity. 

Care UK is the UK’s leading provider of health and social care and one of the 4 largest employers in Colchester. The care home division has 72% of care homes rated as good or better by our regulators, which is the largest of any care providers. They were finalists for the “Engage Awards” in 2016 and also finalists for the “Best Employer Award” in the Skills for care accolades. We have been nominated this year for Best Care Home Group by Care Management magazine.