Due to the varied nature of my placement year, having spent time at a number of different companies in a whole host of various roles, my industry knowledge has expanded immeasurably. While learning in theory during my first two years at university established a strong foundation, my time spent learning practically about the ins and outs of the fashion industry has been invaluable. Owing to the varied levels of responsibility that I was granted at each placement, my consumption of knowledge did vary from place to place.
At Forever Unique, I learnt a lot about the complex way that a brand must position itself within the market based on social, marketing and PR tactics. I learnt about the value of competitor knowledge and the usefulness of market comparison in order to advance and excel a brand. One of the unique selling points of the Forever Unique brand is its regular feature on the ITV reality show The Real Housewives of Cheshire. It was really insightful to see how television can play a pivotal part in PR, and the way that increased consumer engagement can translate to sales as long as the consumer journey is an appealing one. Behind-the-scenes at Coach, I gained extensive luxury industry knowledge about the importance of PR in the promotion of a brand. My knowledge of the fashion journalism industry developed as a result of handling so many magazines and distributing samples to them on a daily basis. I am extremely familiar with the names (and in some cases, the faces) of a multitude of fashion writers and stylists for a range of newspapers, supplements and weekly, monthly and quarterly magazines. This is important because the fashion industry as a whole relies so heavily on 'who you know' as opposed to 'what you know', so I feel confident that this knowledge will be important for my future career. Creatively speaking, my knowledge has been built upon by a range of experiences such as creating digital content for the Forever Unique social media channels and transactional website using Adobe Creative Suite, assisting on numerous photoshoots or developing my written style and flair.
My developed professionalism umbrellas a number of transferable skills which I have built on throughout the year. Working as a member of a number of teams within the industry was a good opportunity to experience the collaborative process of achieving an end goal, whether that be sending gifts to a number of celebrities, carrying out a cover shoot or preparing for a campaign launch. Throughout the year, I attended team meetings to brainstorm ideas and receive briefs, actively participating by suggesting my own ideas and offering support for others' ideas. I have welcomed responsibility during my placement year, and thrived on the pressure that is brought with being relied upon to achieve results within a team. My time management throughout the year has been excellent, as I have consciously made the effort to be reasonably early for work everyday - apart from in extenuating circumstances, which only ever involved severely delayed public transport thanks to winter weather! The professionalism that I displayed went a long way; my supervisors were often impressed by my level of capability my enthusiasm for the roles I undertook and my unshakable desire to learn.
It has been intriguing to learn more about myself and my approach to working away from an educational environment. I definitely benefit from the structure of a definitive task, as opposed to working without a clear goal. My desire to achieve and excel still hasn't faltered during the transition of education to the workplace, which is largely down to the fact that I am still being held accountable to gain praise during both instances. Working hard and sticking at something for my own benefit and the development of my own skills is still something that I need to develop, as I definitely have a natural inclination to procrastinate. Freelance work seems to be an increasing trend within the fashion industry right now, so I know I'll need to be a lot more proactive in order to keep up with this changing pace.
There were two significant periods during my placement year where I had to deal with and respond to a more challenging pressure. After five months in my demanding role at Forever Unique, I made the decision to withdraw from my position in the hopes of finding something more suited to my future ambitions. The entire process of leaving Forever Unique was a valuable learning curve; from the initial decision making process, to the daunting discussion with my managers, to the month waiting-period before my last day. The second pressurised period came just three days into a new placement at Dazed Magazine, where I was extremely unhappy. The process of leaving this placement was different; while I had built relationships and developed a new role within the team at Forever Unique, the culture at Dazed and the treatment of interns was so shocking that I didn't feel it was necessary to make my departure such a smooth transition. This period was valuable in teaching me the reality of workplace abuse and company cultures that thrive on fear. I don't regret my decision to take up my placement at Dazed, because if I had not, I almost certainly would have pursued a job at the company post-graduation. I dealt with these conflicts and difficult decisions with the utmost professionalism, staying calm and collected while maintaining my stance.
Briefing was an important aspect of my role at Forever Unique, and my time at the company left a lasting impression on the briefing system carried out internally at the company. As my role developed, it highlighted a problem with the way that other departments briefed the creative team with upcoming projects. In short, the briefing system was non-existent beforehand which lead to problematic and underwhelming projects being produced. By working collaboratively to produce a new briefing system, I was able to produce work to a higher standard and within clearly set time constraints. I saw similar briefing methods in action at Coach, where my tasks were given by emails from my manager which could then be pinned while being carried out and moved to a folder marked 'Done' once completed.
Communication really was key to my placement year, naturally so, as I work towards my degree in Fashion Communication. External communication was important during my first placement at Forever Unique, where my day-to-day tasks largely involved developing and producing creative social media content which would be viewed by the brand's 1m+ total social followers. I developed a creative eye for typography and graphics during this placement, and became extremely confident with my technique in commuting a particular message, as well as communicating the brand and its personality as a whole. Internal communication was most important at Coach, where I worked alongside another intern throughout my team to tag-team the role's responsibilities as well as working alongside the brand's small PR team of 4 staff members. Being accurate and efficient was key in this role due to the fast pace and strict time constraints. Completion of the tasks relied on good communication with the other intern, so that we could collaboratively achieve our goals. We shared the responsibility of a weekly coverage report presentation, which was intended to communicate the PR coverage that had been attained by each of the brand's international PR departments.
My placement year was an amazing experience, and not something I could ever forget. It has provided me with a strong foundation in which to build my final year of university and my career from there on in. Building connections with people in the industry has been the most valuable part of the entire experience, and I wouldn't have done it had I not taken the risks and maintained a strong work ethic. It was a real eye-opener to the working world, and ultimately has made me so much more certain that this is the path I want to follow post-graduation.
