Jack’s Journey from Classroom Learning to Real-World Experience

Hello! My name is Jack. I have just completed a 4-day work experience with TPSquared as part of my first year of A Levels at Wolverhampton Grammar School. This experience is closely related to my Design and Technology A Level; however, it has given me so much more in terms of understanding the world of work.

Throughout the placement, I have felt welcomed and encouraged by all of the TPSquared team as everyone has welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like part of the team as soon as I stepped through the door. Whether this be by immediately inviting me to join in an ongoing task surrounding a client, or making me feel valued, despite only being here for a short time. Being assigned tasks as part of a real client project made the work I did feel important and relevant, helping me develop my independence and confidence in a work environment.

Not only was the work I completed relevant and important, it was also suited to my skills and what I was strongest at. I worked as part of a social media team for AproDerm®. This included researching other companies to understand how best to promote a product on Instagram. I collected this data from a number of different skincare Instagram pages to help improve engagement and boost followers. Once this task was completed, the team assigned me to work as a photographer for some of the products within the AproDerm® range, this task was chosen after I explained my recent passion for photography, to which they chose to make use of and adapt to my interests and skills to the current project. Any work I did was supported continuously by the entire team so I never felt out of depth in anyway. I was also given the opportunity to shadow the team and gain a greater understanding of what the world of graphic and product design industries is about, with plenty of insight into what a client would request and what they would expect from the team.

I was also invited to a client meeting, where I accompanied Carolyn and Harriet to the meeting with AproDerm® where we talked about changes and planning for social media in the next coming months. This included creating new ideas for posts or changes to the current style to increase interactions and views, I felt welcome the entire time during the meeting with the team at AproDerm® as they asked for my opinions and thoughts without applying pressure in a way that would make me feel uncomfortable. The work I conducted during the work experience was brought up and mentioned which helped me feel included and overall confident in any work I had done during the four days.

Overall, my work experience at TPSquared has been extremely inspiring and an incredible experience from day one. Not only has this experience opened up my ideas and thoughts of potential career paths, but has helped me developed both new and existing skills which can translate to any work environment.

Finally, I would just like to say thank you to TPSquared for the amazing experience!