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Eli Sage is the latest to have completed a summer internship with Auditory Verbal UK, via the University of Sussex's scheme to get students building their experience in the working world between their second and third year of undergraduate study. In this edition of A Day in the Life, Eli takes us through her typical day as a Communications and PR Intern.

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I applied to Auditory Verbal UK through an internship scheme ran by the University of Sussex, having been inspired by the videos on their social media channels. I’ve loved learning about the work of Communications and PR at AVUK and it has now become something that I want to explore more when I leave university.

Throughout my time with the charity I have mostly worked remotely due to ongoing concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, however I have also had the opportunity to get into the office to meet the team in person on several occasions too.

In this blog I’ll take you through a typical day of working from home for AVUK:

I log onto my computer at 9am and look over my emails. I check my calendar to remind myself for the meetings ahead and then make a rough timetable for the day. My first responsibility is to ensure all the days social media posts are scheduled for the right time and don’t have any mistakes.

I then start subtitling a recent interview we recorded with one of AVUK’s Auditory Verbal therapists, Estelle Gerrett. The clips need to be edited so that they are ready to be included in our social media posts and website. I have really enjoyed seeing such projects from the start through to completion by the end of my internship.

At 11am, I join our weekly Communications and Fundraising ‘Coffee Catch Up’ which is a great way to get to know everyone in the team. I’ve really valued these meetings as they have allowed me to get to know so many different people despite not being in the room together.

Afterwards, I have a quick catch up with Alex, AVUK’s Communications and Operations Officer. I update him on the projects I’m working on, and we talk about any questions I have. Alex asks for my support on a new web-series, so we discuss the ways I can get involved.

I get straight to work. I start drafting the webpage and creating designs of graphics to include. It has really built my confidence that I get so much responsibility and independence to work on interesting projects like these.

At lunchtime, I sit in my garden to enjoy the sun. This is one massive advantage of remote working!

For the rest of the afternoon I help our PR Manager, Jane with contacting celebrities, corporates and community groups to get involved with AVUK’s upcoming annual fundraiser, Loud Shirt Day. Towards the end of the day, I always check the social media posts for the next day and see if I have any meetings the next morning to prepare for.

I have learnt so much from my time at AVUK, with all the staff having been so welcoming and helpful. I loved visiting their London office and getting to work with the team in person, but the team have made me feel so involved and secure even while working from home. Doing an internship has been so beneficial for better understanding my post-university goals. Eight weeks sounded like a long time at first but it has gone so quickly! The work of AVUK is really inspiring and I enjoyed being able to contribute to it as much as I could.

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If you like to read about the experiences of some of AVUK's other interns, check out this article here which looks back on several from the last few years.

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