Virtual Work Placement: The Student Experience at Ulster University Business School

Ulster University Business School Communications and Marketing Assistant, Emer Murphy, shares her real-life experience of navigating to a remote working environment during her placement year amid the COVID-19 crisis.

As a student, a work placement is an invaluable opportunity to gain exposure to your chosen field of study and a chance to experience at first-hand the day-to-day functions of your dream graduate job. As an employer, it’s a way of opening company doors to the future workforce and gaining fresh perspectives on your business.

However, when a global crisis strikes, the day-to-day activities and duties you have become so familiar with are abruptly disrupted. Overnight, workplaces are vacated and soon office-based staff across the world are transformed into remote employees.

My Experience

A work placement year between studies at Ulster University was an undeniable opportunity. Currently I am undertaking a placement year at Ulster University’s Business School as a Marketing and Communications Assistant - a position I began in-person and will complete remotely, as I currently write this from my makeshift office at home!

My role is heavily focused on engaging in promotional activities, enhancing online presence and effectively communicating with internal and external business networks. The coronavirus pandemic has impacted my work greatly, as a large proportion of my working week was originally dedicated to attending many internal and external networking events. 

Staying Positive

Instead of dwelling on the absence of trade shows, conventions, inspiring networking events, working in my very own office and occasionally going for a coffee with my colleagues, I decided to make opportunity from this uncertainty. Thanks to The Management and Leadership Network for also doing this by making sure we didn’t miss out on the Galvanize Virtual Summit this year!

Creating Value

Taking the two-hour car journey home to my family, I set up office in a spare bedroom. It came to my attention that now, more than ever, online presence was an extremely important and useful resource to the Business School. With all upcoming marketing events cancelled or deferred, I was challenged to pivot our social media strategy to support online engagement. With the help of online collaboration tools, my team and I were able to communicate regularly and quickly adapt our campaign schedule to continue to deliver purposeful and meaningful content in the current context.

With the extra time to think and focus on new marketing practices, creativity instantly began flowing.

I created an online content planner to help myself and my colleagues plan and distribute relevant content in a timely manner in line with our main objectives. I did a lot of research on how, despite no longer sharing a desk together, my team and I could use different resources to help us work efficiently in a team. Safe to say this approach has been hugely successful and has helped foster communication.

Taking Initiative

During this time, it can be quite difficult to remain positive and hopeful. I decided that our online presence must shine a little light to our followers and took the initiative to contact other departments within the Business School to learn how they were adapting to online delivery of education to students. This is something I may not have undertaken previously; however in a matter of days I was now taking part in Skype calls with fellow members of staff I had not even met before!

Adapting to working from home as a placement student was quite frightening in the beginning however it has made me a stronger communicator and problem solver. I have been compelled to use my initiative more than before and I’ve seen my true creativity and ideas come to life.

A virtual placement has taught me how to dedicate my undivided attention and focus to one particular task at a time, something I struggled with before. I have also worked with a larger variety of people and been able to add value to my organization in a time when they need it most.

Top Tips

• Set aside a dedicated workstation where only work tasks and emails are allowed
• Keep your normal routine, if you are mid email at 5pm – Shut down your computer!
• Plan your day, dress as professional you can (pyjamas on the bottom are satisfactory)
• If you would not take your pet or your Netflix account to work normally… don’t start now!

As a placement student I feel lucky to have been given the opportunity to go through this transition, it has helped to strengthen skills and I have evolved both professionally and personally. Now more than ever businesses need new bright ideas, fresh insights and a virtual placement is a fantastic way to add more value to any business during this uncertain time. 

Emer Murphy, Ulster University Business School Communications and Marketing Assistant