My experience at Bullens
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 months since I joined Bullens, it feels like it was just yesterday I applied for the Marketing Intern position here at Bullens. But hey you know what they say, ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ and I can say that I definitely don’t regret my decision to take this opportunity when I got the offer. I came to Bullens feeling very nervous and anxious as I did not know anything about stomas, or urology products. However, the amazing Bullens team were there to support me and everybody was extremely welcoming and willing to answer any questions I had.
My internship at Bullens has been an incredible experience that has allowed me to better understand the professional workplace and expectations that come with it. The knowledge I have learned and experiences I have had are highly beneficial for me as a University Student. Bullens employees have been very supportive and friendly throughout my internship. They are all very knowledgeable about the business and have been willing to share that knowledge with me from day one so I would get the most out of my time with them.
Throughout the duration of my internship I was able to learn a variety of things. One thing I learned is that everybody needs to be able to communicate, whether you’re discussing a brief, writing emails, dealing with enquiries, or conducting an interview. One of the goals I set myself before the start of my placement was to reduce my anxiety when talking to strangers (and especially adults). I truly believe that working at Bullens has helped me to develop my communication skills. I can now speak clearly, thoughtfully and without feeling nervous. Sometimes the most important developments are the small ones and getting used to talking to strangers is going to help me massively while in China and America over the summer, and in the future, especially at things like interviews, meetings and even while in university.
Before starting this role, I only had a basic understanding of the fundamentals of marketing, but now I have learned how to manage successful campaigns and effectively utilise social media pages. I also didn’t have much confidence with public speaking, however, from doing the company annual event presentation and attending several events, I feel I have become much better at delivering information efficiently.
Throughout the duration of my internship I have worked closely with staff members from all levels of the organisation, created spreadsheets for various reports, took over roles that I never thought I would be capable of doing during my time here at Bullens. It has been a real eye opener to see how much I’ve actually learnt since being here.
One of the most important skills that I learned has been the importance of being a team player and being able to work with all different types of personalities to meet company objectives. Working in a team has brought me many benefits. It has helped me build closer and stronger relationship with staff members within all departments and has helped me gain a real insight into how the cycle of a marketing campaign works. It has also given me the opportunity to learn a variety of marketing techniques that I believe will come in handy for me in my final year of university and in future jobs.
I have also learned that it is not just doing your own job right that counts, but helping everyone on the team do it right is what ultimately leads to success of a concerted effort in any task. Being effective as an individual and at the same time being a team player, time management, people management, giving timely constructive feedback and being open to feedback and to the ideas that can come from any corner – are other key things I have learned from working here at Bullens.
In addition, while working at Bullens I learned a great deal about dealing with customers and how to handle difficult requests from those customers who might not have received the service they have been promised from doing inbound calls, market research and replying to emails/Facebook posts. I learned that keeping a cool head is a must - and that disagreeing with anyone in a professional setting doesn’t help solve anything. In the end it’s just a matter of keeping a clear mind and professional behaviour and helping the customer to the best of my ability. This is an excellent skill that I know will also be useful in my future career.
Overall Working as a Marketing Intern here at Bullens has been a great learning experience for me in not only choosing a career path, but also learning strengths and weaknesses about myself. I know that the details that I learned through my experiences with Bullens will be very valuable in my final year of University and in my immediate future when choosing a career path.
Also, I have to say that I am really lucky to have met my manager – Sue and every single staff member here at Bullens. Everybody have been very supportive and have taught me a lot and always guided me on the right way. I honestly cannot thank you all enough for making me feel as part of the Bullens family.