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Internships: It’s a win/win situation

September 1st, 2010

Ben Tatton-Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of RingRing Media

Ben Tatton-Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of RingRing Media

Earlier this year, Ben Tatton-Brown, co-founder and CEO of RingRing Media sold his company for an estimated $20m after just 18 months of business. Here, he explains the value of internships in aiding his business’ success, in advancing the interns themselves, and why he recommends Inspiring Interns to other start-up companies.

Anyone starting up a new company will tell you that time is precious, money is sparse and all hands are needed on deck. When we founded RingRing Media back in February 2008 we had no idea how things were going to pan out and knew that if we were to be successful, we would need to get some great-minded, dedicated people on the team.

It was 18 months ago that we first started using Inspiring Interns. They promised to always provide the right graduates for targeted roles – and, I can happily say, have yet to fail us in their pledge. After passing over a specification of the people we were looking for, Inspiring Interns immediately  sourced, interviewed and put forward suitable candidates for us to interview and choose from, saving a lot of time and toil. From the shortlist, we selected people who we felt would both fit into and bring something to the company – important, as we hoped to offer full-time positions after the initial three month internship. Starting primarily with just four staff, we worked hard to get the company up and running, quickly getting our name on the mobile advertising map.

In June 2008, RingRing Media launched the RingRing Exchange – the world’s first and largest mobile advertising exchange. Connecting operators, media owners, publishers and mobile apps to brands and agencies through one dynamic platform, the project proved a huge success and boosted the company to an internationally recognised level. As the company grew, our interns became  full-time staff, and we hired more Inspiring Interns to both support existing roles, and fill new ones within the business.

The internship arrangement not only benefited us, but also, significantly, the graduates. All of our interns were paid for their travel and lunch expenses and we ensured they received full training and hands-on work experience in their specific job area. Obviously this was great for us if they decided to stay on at the company, but it also importantly provided the graduate – many of whom had had little or no experience in a corporate environment – with the fundamental skills, practice and knowledge to advance them in other future employment ventures.

At the beginning of this year RingRing Media was acquired by a large  mobile advertising company called Amobee headquartered in Redwood City, California, an acquisition which allowed us to complement our revolutionary mobile advertising exchange  with the most deployed telco-grade ad-serving solution in the world and benefit from Amobee’s exceptional international connections. Together, as a new company, we are expanding rapidly; we have over 75 employees worldwide across 4 continents  - ten of which are Inspiring interns that stayed on with us full-time.

I can recommend Inspiring Interns to any business looking for talented and targeted graduate staff; we are aiming to be the largest mobile ad exchange in the world, and we will continue to use the services of Inspiring Interns to help achieve our aspirations.

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Are you flexible enough?

August 2nd, 2010

A recent study by Orange has revealed that more and more job-seekers are flexible blog imageprepared to work flexible hours in their first job.

Out of the 1000 students that Orange questioned, over 53% said that they expected to work on a flexible basis, either working remotely or out of the traditional office working hours.  A further 69% said that this option was of high importance to them.  Gone are the days of graduates expecting the standard 9-5 working day for their first job – remote and mobile work has become such an integral component of corporate life that now there seems no need to even be in the office.

But what will this do in the long run to office mentality and general company well-being?  Will the annual Christmas party be a room full of people who have only ever communicated via conference-call or online, unable to recognise one another face-to-face?  Flexible working is undoubtedly a convenient way to work – you can chose your hours if your life is too hectic to fit to the 9-5 regime, or if you don’t have the means to get to the office, you can stay at home or go to the local Starbucks and login remotely.  Life no longer has to fit around work – today work can fit around your life.

These new statistics come at a time when Facebook has just revealed its worldwide population of over 500 million users, who collectively spend 700 billion minutes per month on the social networking site.  This undoubtedly confirms the influence of technology and the growing importance of social media in today’s world.  Access to networking sites in their first job also came high up on the list to graduates – 43% felt that access to sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn was integral to building up contact lists for their professional development.  Social networking is no longer confined to keeping in touch with friends and family; it’s fast becoming the most important way to connect with potential clients, business partners, and new employees.

Max Taylor, Director of Corporate Marketing at Orange, commented on his findings.  “Today’s graduates are far more digitally savvy than their counterparts of ten – or even five – years ago.  They expect to be able to work on the move and make use of tools like social media and the internet wherever they are.”  Yet despite the increased flexibility that social networks provide, there may also be some negative knock-on effects; social networking and modern technology may be doing a very good job at destroying the most basic of human abilities – that to communicate with other individuals.  In a world where technology rules, it is easy to forget how simple things like eye contact and body language make a huge difference in how a person is perceived, but these aspects are instantly lost behind a computer screen.  For the ‘flexible worker’, physical interaction between work colleagues may arguably be less important than the amount of Facebook friends or LinkedIn connections.  Is this the high-tech future we are heading towards?

Inspiring Interns is a recruitment agency that place students and graduates in internships with a view to full-time employment.   See http://www.inspiringinterns.com for all the latest news and vacancies.

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Internships ‘An Industrial Finishing School for the Middle Classes’? I’m Not Convinced.

July 13th, 2010

Anyone who follows the news cannot have failed to notice the current debate about the value and legitimacy of internships. Obviously this is a subject we at Inspiring Interns feel quite strongly about, and felt it was time to chip in with our thoughts on the subject. One of the main concerns we are seeing is that many young people are unable to afford to carry out an internship. Unfortunately, there are actually funding options to help such individuals, but these tend to be poorly advertised. We at Inspiring Interns are able to advise you on the available options so feel free to get in touch with any questions. I asked Royal Holloway lecturer Nigel Saul to give an opinion on the matter, having spent years guiding students into careers upon graduating. Nigel tells me that he believes, ‘As completion for graduate-level jobs increases, so it becomes all the more important for applicants to show that they’ve got some experience of the workplace. These days, the process of gaining such experience begins at school, when pupils do a week’s work experience in a setting of their choice. The idea of internships builds on that and helps to bridge the gap between the process of thinking and studying at university and the business of working on graduation. Internships help both the graduating student and the employer. They help the employer by proving them with better trained, more experienced and mature graduate applicants. They help the graduate by providing them with experience – and perhaps to assist in helping them decide which career path to ultimately pursue.’ This is just the opinion of one individual; however we are finding that across the board, the happy endings earned through internships are far outnumbering the horror-stories the media often pounces upon in order to generate a social panic! This is just our belief however, please feel free to comment with your own experiences on internships, good and bad so that we can continue to tailor the services we offer to best suit our clients.

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Where are all the graduates???

July 12th, 2010

tumbleweed desert road

Last week the new Inspiring Interns marketing team enjoyed a jolly to the Marketing Week Live exhibition at Olympia in order to spread the Inspiration. Though initially a little apprehensive, the lovely Natalie Parnell and myself were amazed at just how many exhibitors were excited to talk to us and discuss interns and graduates more generally. We are proud to announce that Inspiring Interns received a warm reception, and is now linked with a number of exciting new corporations to which we cannot wait to send our ambassadors. What stunned us even more however was how few young people were there networking. Marketing, like many other popular career paths, is an industry where entry-level positions are fairly few and competition is fierce. Networking is a fantastic way to get your name out there and meet the right people – my flatmate Lina for example got her place on a grad scheme for a great agency after getting talking to an employer she met at a marketing event. She is now living the dream hobnobbing with high-profile clients. Further to this, and possibly most importantly, Natalie and I had brought large bags and played ‘Supermarket Sweep’ with the freebies on tables – I got two boxes of couture chocolates and a mug in my haul! Natalie picked up enough pens to get her through her final year at uni!

So many graduates underestimate the importance of making themselves stand out from the crowd during an interview. Even if you don’t get a job simply by attending events, you will certainly learn things worth discussing in interviews and prove your genuine interest in your chosen career path. It is easy to find relevant networking events online, they are often free to attend and well worth your attention. While we always recommend internships to gain valuable work experience, it is important to consistently do what you can in every aspect of your life to present yourself as not only an Inspiring Intern, but someone who has brilliant potential to become a valuable addition to any work-force. Cheesy? Yes. Clichéd? Yes, but it’s true.

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How do I get a job with a 2:2 Degree?

July 6th, 2010

graduate blog

The recent news that “three quarters of employers ‘require 2:1 degree’” has come as a shock to many graduates who have only just received their university degrees, many of which fall below this grade.  With the number of students still on the rise, the latest statistics issued by The Association of Graduate Recruiters reveal that job vacancies have decreased by 7%, a frightening percentage for any graduate on the hunt for a job.

Hearing such statistics can be disheartening, and the current job climate is such that it is even more important to make yourself stand out from the crowd.  Employers are not just looking for candidates with enthusiasm in an interview and a high academic record on paper; they are now turning to work experience and seeing whether potential employees have enough relevant transferable skills.  Yet here lies another conundrum – how does one go about gaining these skills when no company will employ a candidate without them?

This is exactly where internships can help.  By engaging yourself in an internship, you can get one step onto the career ladder and significantly increase your employability.  Not only will you have a taster of work in your chosen field, but you will gain invaluable experience that employers are finding increasingly necessary when deciding who to employ.

If you recently graduated and your degree was not what you wanted or was lower than you expected – don’t panic.  Degrees are of great value but they do not mean everything in terms of employability.  Experience in the working world is becoming crucial to employers, so why not bite the bullet and apply for that internship that you’ve been meaning to – there’s every chance that it will lead to that full-time dream job.

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‘I’ve graduated – what next?’ Guardian Careers Q&A

June 24th, 2010

Yesterday, Inspiring Interns’ CEO Ben Rosen took part in a live web chat hosted by Guardian Careers. The subject was ‘I’ve graduated – what next?’ and Ben was one of a panel of careers experts on hand to give out advice to confused or concerned graduates. It was a lively and engaging discussion, with plenty of questions to keep him busy, so we thought we’d do a summary for those of you who couldn’t make it (either due to the fact you were busy securing your future at the Guardian graduate fair or you were settling down to watch the football in your local…).

One question that repeatedly came up was whether doing a Masters was a worthwhile investment, in terms of time and money, when it came to finding a job. One graduate was interested in pursuing a career in public policy and wanted to know whether a Masters would be a good idea. The general consensus among the panel was that doing a Masters shouldn’t be used a last resort because job hunting has proved unsuccessful. They can prove expensive and with increasing numbers of graduates resorting to them they are no longer as valuable as they once were. Most of the panel suggested that work experience is now considered more valuable to employers than a further qualification, something we have experience first hand here at Inspiring.

Another big worry among graduates was the state of the economy and the effect on job prospects. Despite the fact that there are fewer opportunities out there and as a result, graduate jobs have become fiercely competitive, graduates shouldn’t lose hope. Job hunters simply need to find innovative and resourceful ways to proactively search for and create opportunities, such as using online networks. For hints and tips on using social media for job hunting, check out our blog post here. New emerging industries such as social media are always on the hunt for internet savvy graduates, so you may find that the ability to arrange nights out on Facebook and stalk Lindsay Lohan’s every move on Twitter are actually considered valuable skills in the workplace.

You can look at the Guardian Careers Q&A here to look at the discussion in full. The panel gave excellent responses to all the questions, so if you’re confused or worried about life after graduation, it’s well worth a read.

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SEO and PPC- the perfect profession for people with a passion for numerical analysis

June 16th, 2010

Does the mere mention of SEO or PPC make you salivate wildly like a Pavlovian dog?  Perhaps you have a soft spot for numbers, tables and graphs? If the answer is yes to either of these questions then your destiny might just lie in SEO or PPC.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and its sole purpose is to maximise the visibility of a website on search engine result pages aka SERPs. Search engines like Google will trawl through the entire internet, looking for keywords found on websites. A keyword is a word that describes what your site is about. For Inspiring Interns our keywords might be ‘interns’,’ internships’ and ‘graduates’. Sites crammed with keywords are found more easily by search engines and positioned higher up on SERPs. The higher up your site, the easier it is for people to find/visit you.   A SEO manager will  tag keywords onto videos or blog posts and can imbed them into website’s HTML. Another technique SEO managers use is called link-baiting. This is where a website’s URL is placed on neighbouring sites. People can find your site more easily by clicking through from other related places on the web.  So why is SEO on everyone’s lips?  It is a hugely effective way to increase traffic to your site. Moreover if you are an e-commerce then it is a great way for potential customers to find you.  SEO is cost-free and classed as a ‘natural search’, as opposed to PPC which is paid for and called a ‘paid search’.

PPC’s aims are the same as SEO – to maximise the visibility of a website. PPC managers pay for sponsored links that are found at the top of or the right hand side of SERPs. You can bid for the position of your sponsored link against competitors’ sites that have similar keywords, or pay a flat fee paying for every time someone clicks on your link.  PCC is perfect for number-crunchers because statistical analysis is often required by clients to analyse the true value/efficiency of a PPC campaign, in terms of resulting sales and page views. Both SEO and PPC are highly numerical and you’ll need razor sharp analytical skills and fantastic attention to detail to excel in these roles. Because SEO and PPC are cost effective and yield measurable results, they are very popular with marketing managers and are therefore growing rapidly as an industry.

At Inspiring we have lots of meaningful internships than evolve into entry-level roles in this innovative industry. Make sure you pop your CV over to our team, if you are looking for a foot in the door. We love helping graduates in any way that we can!

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This week’s insightful introduction to the world of mobile marketing

June 7th, 2010

Here at Inspiring we are on the cusp of graduate recruitment. We offer roles in finance, IT, graphic design and more.  This week we’ll be introducing you to the exiting fields of mobile marketing, social media and SEO/PPC, which are areas growing rapidly and on the look out for quick, passionate graduates.

So what is mobile marketing? Mobile is an industry as hot and fresh as a Greggs’ pasty. At Inspiring Interns we can help provide you with a stepping stone into this and many other exciting industries. Mobile is currently in its infancy and growing rapidly. In the UK there are currently 48 million adults but 76 million mobile devices- that’s 1.6 devices per person. The future currently lies in smartphones-internet enabled devices. Some 54 million smartphones were sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2010 and the smartphone is set to become the way to access the internet. This growth is due to the improvement in mobile internet connections and cheaper data plans.  Mcommerce is hot on everyone’s lips. It will allow people to purchase tickets, receive vouchers, and manage their bank accounts through their mobile. In Japan, the mobile has already been integrated with contact-less debit cards and oyster cards. It is not a communication device. It is an integral part of people’s lives.  The potential of mobile is massive and advertising companies have only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploiting its potential.

Advertisers have only recently recognised the potential of mobile marketing and specialist mobile companies are rapidly being snapped up. M&C Saatchi recently purchased InsideMobile for a tidy sum. These companies not only produce apps, they also create mobile (WAP) sites & mobile adverts (banners/videos).  Everyone is getting excited about mobile because it allows marketers to know what happened, by whom, when and where.  Ad campaigns involving SMS, MMS, Bluetooth and QR codes, allow marketers to gather a lot of accurate data on customers. They are also highly personal and sociable- they enable individuals, communities &brands to engage with each other in creative, innovative ways.

If you like a challenge, love working as part of a team and have razor sharp communication skills- mobile might just be your thing. Get in touch and we’ll help you in any way we can.

Later on this week we’ll be blogging about social media and SEO/PPC, so keep your PCs on and your eyes peeled!

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Does University equip graduates for the real world?

June 4th, 2010

graduate image

The last few days have seen a buzz of opinions and debate in the pages of the Metro about the expectations of graduates when it comes to life and jobs after University. Some have argued that the expectations of graduates are far too high upon obtaining a degree, ‘arrogantly’ believing that this qualification will issue them a fast track ticket into a high flying and well paying job. There has been a backlash against this opinion from a number of recent graduates, some of who bemoan the fact that they have studied hard for a number of years, only to find themselves working in a theme park, in a bar or stacking shelves. Others argue that not all graduates leave University expecting their degree to carry them into a fantastic job. Many work hard, completing work placements and gaining experience in their field of interest and eventually landing that dream job.

Highly academic subjects, whilst offering research, analysis and writing skills, do not equip a graduate with many specific skills needed for a career in marketing, sales or HR. This is where the deficit lies. With 300,000 due to graduate from University this summer, competition for graduate jobs will be extremely fierce and a good degree from a top notch University may not be enough to distinguish one graduate from the thousands of others. Work experience is therefore becoming an increasingly vital addition to any graduate CV. James Caan has recently written about the importance of internships for graduates in the Telegraph. He argues that securing work experience is crucial and encourages graduates to use their summer wisely, by completing an internship.

With the recession still looming large, companies are reluctant to risk hiring a graduate full time who, although may have an impeccable academic record, has no real work experience. An internship is the ideal way for a graduate to prove to an employer that they can do the job well and fit in with the company and in our experience, often results in a higher starting salary, since the element of risk has been removed. University is therefore increasingly viewed as the first step to graduate employment and an internship as the second. The first proves your academic worth and the second proves your ability to do a particular job. Combined, they are the key to career success.

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Confidence in graduate job market hits a 15 year low

May 27th, 2010

source – eduinreview

For one recent graduate it all gets a bit too overwhelming.

It’s grim up North; or so the saying goes. Well now it seems that it’s grim up North, down South and anywhere else in-between, according to a recent survey of final year students at 30 of the UK’s top universities. The study, carried out by High Fliers, concluded that 45% of university leavers believed that their prospects upon finishing were ‘very limited’. Considering that the recent recession is officially over, the aftermath of the banking crisis seems to be playing heavily on the minds of graduates.

Possibly the most disturbing of all of the findings is that one in six wouldn’t have gone to university at all if they’d known about how tough it would be to find work upon finishing. Many are scared that jobs available will be snapped up by 2009 graduates, however speaking as an ’09 grad myself I am vigilant of the reverse coming into effect. Martin Birchill, Managing Director of High Fliers commented, “Our latest survey shows that final year students due to leave UK universities this summer are just as pessimistic about their employment prospects as those who graduated twelve months ago… with a record number of students due to complete degrees in the coming weeks and tens of thousands of last year’s graduates still looking for work, there is widespread concern on campus that competition for graduate jobs has never been fiercer.”

These figures paint a stark profile of graduate unemployment but yet again the Government have failed to differentiate between youth unemployment as a whole and the plight of those in higher education. In a repost to the survey’s findings, Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts said, “The jobs market continues to be very tough for young people, who were among the biggest losers during the recession. There continues to be enormous value in higher education and that is why we also are committed to offering an extra 10,000 university places this year.” As we have continued to say time and time again, herding more young people into university will only make the problem of the saturation of the graduate job market even worse; how long will it be until the government realise this?

Although in reality this survey is only a snapshot of graduate opinions, a fifth of final year students were interviewed and the assumptions that can be drawn are worrying to say the least. Following the announcement of dramatic spending cuts in Whitehall, the post-recession bubble seems to have been well and truly burst. With dark times ahead, the next few years for graduates are forecast to be a bleak period.

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