My name is Gabriela Asztalos and this past week I have been working alongside the communications team as a part of my work experience.
At first, I was not sure what I should expect – part of me heard horror stories of students working at office jobs and being sent for coffee runs rather than gaining valuable insight into their aspiring career.
However, at Peterborough City Council my experience was far from this. From the first day I got the opportunity to go into the field and help shoot a promotional video for an upcoming campaign, working alongside the council leader and other valuable cabinet members.
The chance to experience something that is so pivotal to the council on the first day was very valuable because I immediately gained insight into the intricacies of this career.
Furthermore, I also got a chance to sit and listen in to a number of important meetings like the semi-quarterly cabinet meetings where all cabinet members get together to discuss potential upcoming schemes and the details with that, while acting civilised and collaborative.
This surprised me because at the moment politics is very volatile and polarised, so it was refreshing to witness people working together for the betterment of their community.
I was also given the opportunity to gain experience in the more proactive side of communications, like mock articles where I could develop my writing skills where I could get a message across effectively to thousands of people as well as implementing feedback and learning the most effective method to inform.
My experience at Peterborough City Council has been nothing short of inspiring and inclusive where I was treated as an actual member of the team rather than a student on work experience.