186 students took part in our second round of King’s Insights Projects. The Shared Value project was a 2-week virtual internship called the Business opportunity Accelerator project. Read more about how Caitlin describes her experience on the programme!
Introduction
Hello, I’m Caitlin, a 3rd-year medical student studying at Kings College London! I wanted to share my experience of the Insights Project with everyone from the perspective of someone who has very little knowledge of the business side of things. Through this experience, I immersed myself into a completely unfamiliar environment!
Why did I decide to go for this?
I was looking to further expand my skillset and work with a diverse group of people to achieve a common goal. Being able to create a report and receive immediate feedback on our progress from a business client was particularly appealing to me as it provided me with real-life experience, allowing me to cultivate my professionalism and challenge myself in a new environment.
What does this internship actually consist of?
The ultimate aim of this internship is to produce a report for your assigned business client and develop your personal skills through this task. The internship begins with a general introduction followed by a focused meeting with your client where you have the opportunity to understand the client’s needs and ask any relevant questions to aid you with this. Alongside this, there is the opportunity for learning and self-reflection through the learning platform Practera. Here you are able to set goals for yourself and devise practical solutions and methods to achieve this. This then means you are able to remain on task and practice and hone the skills you wish to develop.
How did I find working virtually in a new team?
Working in a new team can always be daunting, to begin with, but everyone in my team communicated respectfully, creating a very friendly and comfortable team environment – which ultimately increased our efficiency and allowed us to create a report the client deemed to be at a very high standard.
Having a lack of experience in this field compared to some of the other members of the team was not a setback but instead allowed me to gain even more from the experience. Acknowledging our differences in skill set was vital to achieving our goal and allowed us to delegate the work appropriately.
What advice would I give to other students thinking about Insights Project?
Looking back I wish I hadn’t given it as much thought as I did and just went for it! If you’re worried about balancing your time with your course like I was, I would definitely say to just go for it! The internship is only two weeks and it goes by so fast as it’s so enjoyable and runs seamlessly. The workload is very manageable and communicating effectively with your team means that you won’t feel overworked or overwhelmed – so I’d really recommend taking part in this opportunity. You will be fully supported throughout and also receive invaluable advice on how to successfully network and develop your LinkedIn profile. Receiving a certificate demonstrating your participation is always a bonus too!
Thanks again to King’s Internship and the platform Practera for this exciting experience!