Valentina Koleva

Country of origin: Bulgaria

Placement: Texas Instruments GmbH

I have always believed that a placement year is an ideal start for one’s future career and also extremely beneficial in terms of acquiring transferable skills, highly valued by potential employers. The 15 months spent with Texas Instruments (TI) not only confirmed my beliefs but I also learnt that a year in the industry gives you the unique chance to experience real-life responsibility, and guarantees that you can showcase a list of achievements which help you stand out and feel more confident in your work.

My role in TI was EMEA Employee and Corporate Communications Intern which is a very varied and exciting position. For about 12 months we were a team of two, which meant that I shared approximately equal amount of responsibility with my manager. I was involved in researching, writing and editing content for all internal communications vehicles. I was also required to support the planning and delivery of both internal and external communications activities. The former involved project management, strategic planning, designing communications campaigns from scratch (for social media, events, tradeshows etc.), interviews with high-level management along with a variety of analytical tasks to test employee satisfaction and measure results against goals. At the end of my placement, after developing a robust recruitment strategy and a detailed training plan for new interns, I was offered an extension of contact and asked to provide training to two newcomers for their first two months in the company.

Working in the EMEA Headquarters of an American Fortune 500 corporation located at the heart of Bavaria provides myriad opportunities for personal development and growth, networking or simply enjoying the German lifestyle.  I loved the time spent with TI and I am certainly going to miss the organisation, the culture and the people there! It was a challenging undertaking and at the beginning I was not confident whether I would live up to the team’s expectations. However, in reality, if you are genuinely passionate about your job and keen to learn, it is a very rewarding experience. One of my key learnings is that your placement is what you make of it and if you ask for responsibility, you own your development.

Feeling like a valuable member of the team, seeing that my input makes a difference and witnessing how my ideas receive funding and come to life is certainly one of the main highlights of the placement. Being an exception from all other interns when given full managerial responsibility because my supervisor is on holiday or on a business trip is another favourite aspect of my 15-month TI experience.  Last but not least – I realised I truly relish working in a multicultural environment where you embrace the differences between nationalities, and diversity and inclusion are core company values.

What I noticed during my internship is that many UK universities do not offer placement support to their students at all, unless the student initiates a conversation. In contrast, LUMS Placement Team and the school as a whole provided guidance from the beginning of year 1, prepared us mentally for potential challenges in the recruitment process and created opportunities for mock interviews with employers, careers fairs gave advice on how to “polish” your application and stand out. It is only when you meet peers from other universities and compare with them that you notice LUMS preparation is a clearly obvious advantage.