Find out what our Guest Bloggers are getting up to. Throughtout the year we will be following the progress of our Guest Bloggers as they find a placement or keep us updated as to what they are doing on their placement. Click here to read all entries from our bloggers or click here to meet them.

Name: Chris Hall

Age: 21

University: Bournemouth University

Course: Communications and Media

Company: Generate Sponsorship PR

Job Role: Six week summer placement

Hello. Hello. I’m Chris Hall, a 21-year-old second student studying at Bournemouth Uni. I’m currently about to start my six week summer placement and want to give you guys an insight into my life living in London at Generate Sponsorship PR. UNPAID.’

So… Here I am, at the end of another year of uni with the prospect of a six-week placement in front of me. I should add, UNPAID placement. Six weeks of unpaid work – I can’t say I am looking forward to the thought of that too much.

I’ll be working at Generate Sponsorship PR in London:

‘Generate is a young and dynamic agency delivering creative, innovative and accountable solutions via the sponsorship media. Our team have a wealth of experience, working for some of the world’s largest brands including; Coca Cola, Red Bull, Sony Ericsson, Kronenbourg, Monster.com, Heineken, and Nivea. At Generate, we pride ourselves on translating our clients business and marketing objectives into creative sponsorship strategies whilst demonstrating measurable returns.’

So, it does sound good, however, I do have a few concerns at the same time.

So positives: I’ll get to see if I actually like what I’ve done on my course (and whether I’ve learnt anything). It will also give me an insight into working life; far different from the usual roll out of bed hungover uni lifestyle, crawling into a lecture barely listening. Added to this, I’m looking forward to staying in London – somewhere I want to live once I’ve graduated – I can experience the hustle and bustle of rushing round on the underground and the general atmosphere of the place to see if this is actually where I want to live once I’ve finished uni.

But negatives: Once again six whole weeks unpaid. I have an overdraft and my main, short-term immediate concern is paying it off this summer… It’s hard enough not working during term time, let alone an extra six weeks during the summer. But, what can I do? I get my travel expenses paid (which is something…). I’m also slightly worried that I won’t like what I’m doing? Meaning my whole degree thus far has been, well… pointless. I hope this isn’t the case, but who knows?

Hopefully the people there will be cool and they’ll give me some interesting work to do. The thought of sitting in a scorching office making coffee and filing does not sound like the best summer.