The team behind Porsche Centre Hull have helped a Ron Dearing UTC student grow in confidence and set her sights on a social media marketing career.
Year 13 student Lily Knight completed a three-day work experience placement at Porsche Centre Hull in Hessle, one of the UTC’s Major Partners.
She shadowed the front of house team and immersed herself in the social media marketing side of the business as she aspires to secure an apprenticeship or paid work in the sector when she leaves the UTC this summer.
Abbie Jackson, Digital Marketing and Events Manager at Porsche Centre Hull, said: “Lily was really keen to get involved with front of house and share ideas with the team to create social media content for the dealership.
“After a couple of days shadowing the team, Lily soon built up confidence to answer phone calls, greet customers and complete admin tasks. She started as a showroom host at the beginning of the week before moving to different departments within the business to see how they work together.
“Lily had a really positive experience with us and soon became part of the team. She was keen to help out with dealership events outside of her work experience and popped by to say hello, which shows the impact the experience had on Lily.”
Abbie said work experience is vital to give young people a true insight into the world of work.
She said: “We believe hands-on experience is so important for young adults because it helps to build motivation and confidence which is vital before moving on to further education or into the workplace.
“We’ll continue to take on as many work experience students as possible. We want them to experience all departments to give them a good overview of working life.”
Lily, 18, who is studying Photography and Creative Digital at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “I shadowed the showroom hosts on the front desk, listened while they answered the phones so I could then do the same and transferred calls to the right place.
“I greeted and made tea and coffee for customers, created videos of the cars for social media and marketing and drafted social media posts in line with the brand.
“It was a great placement and I really enjoyed it. I was offered further work but I needed to concentrate on my studies first.
“The placement helped me to realise I’d like to work in social media marketing and I like talking to people. I got a real insight into the day-to-day running of the business.”
Other Ron Dearing UTC students also completed work experience in the automotive side of the business at Porsche Centre Hull.
Lisa Regan, Assistant Principal – Horizons Professionalism at Ron Dearing UTC, said: “Lily thoroughly enjoyed her time with the team at Porsche Centre Hull and clearly learnt a great deal during her placement, which is wonderful to see.
“The fact Porsche wanted to bring Lily back for some additional work alongside her studies is testament to the impression she made on them during her work experience placement.
“We’re looking forward to working with the team at Porsche centre Hull to offer similar opportunities to some of our other students in the future.”
Ron Dearing UTC students are now securing work experience placements for this summer. Businesses that would like to offer opportunities are asked to email Lisa Regan via lregan@rondearingutc.com