<h1>Ruth's Report: Work Experience Makes You Stand Out from the Crowd</h1>
Like many undergraduate students, I started university not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my degree. After studying psychology for a year and still none the wiser, I decided to get an internship in something I have always thought would be an interesting and fast-paced profession. Susan kindly agreed to take me on for the summer and is keen for me to experience all the different areas of PR and Marketing.

While most of my fellow undergraduates are sitting at home, no doubt getting on their parents’ nerves, I am gaining valuable work experience with Lea Graham Associates. The things I will learn here will hopefully set me up for employment after graduation. Not only will it teach me valuable skills I can apply to several other jobs, it will also allow me to experience what work is like in the real world.

Although I love university, I accept that it has its flaws. The biggest flaw with today’s teaching is the lack of physical and workplace skills in the curriculum. Unfortunately, writing a brilliant essay on various theories within your subject is not applicable to most professions. For this reason, I think it is important for employers to offer young people like myself the chance to experience real work.

More and more young people are choosing university, making it harder to stand out from the crowd. In my experience, most students are very negative about their career prospects. Students know there are too few desired jobs and too many applicants, many of whom will have the same degree as themselves. Work experience makes all the difference. However, when you say internship, most people assume you are treated as a glorified coffee machine... this has certainly not been the case at Lea Graham.

Susan and the team were very welcoming and instantly put me at ease. I felt as though I had been there for a couple of days, not a couple of hours! I was surprised when, on my first day, Susan trusted me to write a press release for Coro Nuovo’s upcoming concert. With the help of the team, it was edited, approved and sent out on my second day.

I have only been here a couple of days and I have already learnt so much but I can tell this is only the tip of the iceberg – there is so much more to learn! I am excited to see what the coming months will offer.