An internship that exceeded expectations

Imani Randall-Morgan

You never really know what to expect from an internship, but I can confidently say my time with Viva far exceeded my expectations.

There was no easing in on day one. Within an hour, I joined a company-wide meeting, getting to grips with how the team works day-to-day, before heading straight into interview roleplay practice for Level 2 and Level 3 results days – busy days in the Viva calendar every year.

From there, the week only picked up the pace. On day two, I got to grips with client feedback, applied it to a case study I’d written on day one, before drafting a calendar of social content for a local charity. Next, I was tasked with building a database of food and drink influencers for an upcoming annual event the agency supports.

Day three brought a mix of admin and creative work. One minute I was pulling together graphics and captions to complement the social content I’d drafted for a charity client, the next I was packing up Skills Barometer reports the agency has created to send out to clients. Small tasks on their own, but I could see how each one fed into something bigger.

Then, it was Level 3 results day – the big one. I was invited to sit in on live interviews with students and employers, hearing inspiring stories of the hard work pupils had put in to achieve their grades.

I expected my internship to be mainly shadowing people and taking notes. Instead, I found myself writing up content for real-life agency scenarios and sitting in on interviews with some of the company’s clients.

What surprised me most was the range of work agency teams experience every day. I thought I’d be allocated a lane and expected to stay in it. Instead, NextGen had me moving across all of it, often several times within the same day.

The list of skills I’ve picked up during my internship with Viva is extensive. I moved between case study writing, research, spreadsheets, press releases, media lists, social content, and live interviewing. On the practical side, I developed my Canva skills, learning how to build visuals that are on brand, appropriate for different platforms, and clear enough to land a message at a glance.

I also sharpened my Excel skills, tasked with building spreadsheets on influencers, client admin and trade bodies, which meant getting comfortable turning basic data into something informative and client-ready.

What I liked most, though, wasn’t any single task. It was how quickly I was trusted with real work. No task felt like it was designed to keep me occupied – everything fed into something the team actually needed. That made the pace exciting rather than stressful, even on results day when things moved faster than I’d imagined. The team’s willingness to hand over genuine responsibility, rather than easing me in with observation only, made the two weeks feel like a proper introduction to the industry rather than a taster session.

Everyone I worked with took the time to explain things properly, answer questions without making me feel like I was slowing them down and genuinely seemed invested in helping me learn and grow. That made a real difference in the quality of the internship, especially on the days that moved quickly.

I’m looking forward to using the vast skill set I’ve developed here going forward. Thank you so much, Viva!