Preparing for my future career with the Isle of Man Step Programme - Tia Welsh

Tia is studying Creative Writing at York St John University. This summer, she completed an internship with the Isle of Man Step programme. We recently caught up with Tia to find out more about her experience.

It is great to hear that you enjoyed your internship with the Isle of Man Step programme. Which organisation did you complete your summer internship with?

I worked in the Tourism Department, ‘Visit Isle of Man’, within the government.

What did your internship involve and what were your main duties?

My main task was to improve the ‘Visit Isle of Man’ Visitor and Trade websites. During this time, I redesigned the Visitor website, laid out plans for more web development, created eighty-three web pages and wrote twenty blogs. After my research highlighted that feature videos are often used by tourism websites, I also created TV scripts for potential future use.

It is clear how much you contributed to the department. What were your main achievements whilst you were there?

As this was my first experience with website design and content writing, I was able to learn a lot, specifically in how to promote a website. My manager calculated a 30-40% increase in website traffic because of my work.

I also won the Most Enterprising Student Runner Up prize for my achievements in the Tourism Department.

Do you think this experience will influence your future career? Has the programme altered your goals or reaffirmed your interests?

I think that Step internships are very beneficial for a student’s future career. My experience has highlighted my strength in content writing and confirmed which areas I wish to pursue further. This opportunity has also emphasised the benefits of my degree and how it can be applied to a workplace. This was my first professional role during university, so it was great to gain industry experience and prepare for my future career after graduation.

I am the President of the Snow Sports Society at university and I have taken my knowledge from my internship into this role, developing my social media and marketing skills further by improving the online presence of the society.

Find out more about the STEP programme here: www.iomdfenterprise.im/step