Summer Events and Marketing Internship at Skills for Change

Summer Events and Marketing Internship at Skills for Change

By Shantal Small, Events & Marketing Assistant (Summer Student)

Shantal was a summer student part of the Canada Summer Jobs Student program, working as an Events and Digital Marketing Assistant at Skills for Change for Summer 2018. She currently studies within the School of Creative Industries at Ryerson University and hopes to one day pursue a career in Social Work and Community Justice Services.

Over the past two months, I had the opportunity to intern at Skills for Change as a Events & Digital Marketing Assistants. The position provided me with valuable experiences that I know I will continue to utilize even after I leave the organization.

As an Events & Digital Marketing Assistant, the majority of our work entailed content creation and digital promotion through Skills for Change’s various social platforms. I designed many posters for the organization’s programs, which were shared on social media. One of my favorite posters to work on was the one for the annual summer barbeque, planned by this year’s summer students. Whereas most of the posters I made were reflective of Skills for Change’s brand, creating the Summer Wonderland poster allowed me to be very creative. I got to use fun fonts and colours, and I loved the way it turned out in the end.

I created events to Eventbrite as well as the Skills for Change’s website. I updated the events calendar, and made sure that all upcoming events were accounted for on the website and that clients would find it simple to not only see the events, but to register for the various workshops and events.  I also helped organize some of these events, and even worked at the registration table for various job fairs. We got to interact with clients and employers, and see the ins and outs of event planning.

Speaking of events, as an intern I got the opportunity to attend some great events, including the annual Pioneers for Change Gala, held at the St. James Cathedral downtown. We honoured six immigrants who have impacted their communities in one significant way, and afterwards, enjoyed a lovely evening at a beautiful venue. There was entertainment, networking and great food. Recently, my fellow assistant and I got to attend the CivicAction youth day of networking, wherein we learned how to use LinkedIn to expand our job prospects, among other valuable tips and tricks for networking.

In addition to attending events, we also helped out with many events right here at the home office. The summer students participated in mock interviews, for example, wherein we aided newcomers prepare for their job search by refining their interview skills. It was a great way to practice our own mentoring and leadership skills, while helping other people improve their own skills.

Some of our other tasks included marketing research, updating the job board, emailing press releases, using InDesign and Photoshop to create and edit the company magazine, and out reaching to sponsors. Our last task of the summer was to gather information about the Agency’s 35 year history, and to do this, we got to look through previous annual reports, dating all the way back to the 1980s. It was so interesting to see the ways in which the agency has grown and evolved over the past thirty-six years! They have made an impact in and through the Greater Toronto Area, reaching immigrants and newcomers in the city. It has been an honour and a privilege working at Skills for Change, and I will always look back on my time here as one my greatest summer memories!

Thank you Skills for Change!