Being an intern during lockdown
3 June ’20 – Eva & Francis
DR: DesignRepublic decided not to postpone the internship of Eva during Covid-19. On the contrary: during 10 weeks we welcomed her, and adapted us to the challenging situation. No real life gatherings with the team, no cosy lunches at the office, no customer meetings, but instead: early morning team Skype calls, rushed Whatsapp messages, unstructured e-mails, …. and we thought Eva really made the best of it! But let her tell her experience in her own words:
Eva: “I’d been looking forward to my internship since November and it couldn’t have been the end of March soon enough.
However, a week before my internship was due to start, the government announced that the country was going into lockdown. Like most final year students, I was a bit anxious of what this would mean for my graduation.
After reading the options that university had sent regarding the crisis, we decided to continue the internship via teleworking. This was a challenge for both the company and me, because neither of us had experience with this, and I never had been present at the office.
‘empty office but up & running from home’
At DesignRepublic, I ended up in an environment that finds it very important to always be positive so that the best sides of the staff come to the surface. DesignRepublic didn’t have a communication service yet so I had free rein and to experiment with social media strategies. It was a bit of a search in the beginning: I had to get to know the packaging sector, the company culture, the way of communicating, this takes some time even under normal circumstances. After analyzing the social media of the competition and in general how companies communicate during the crisis, it was time to draw up my own plan. We decided to focus on Instagram because it wasn’t really kept up to date and I was given the freedom to do so. The goal is to use a mix of our creations, wisdom and the atmosphere on the work floor to make our Instagram livelier and to get more interaction with our followers. This is sometimes a bit difficult because you have to make sure you keep looking from the company’s point of view. But fortunately, Francis is my mentor and gives me constructive feedback and helps me keep my posts in line with DesignRepublic’s culture.“
‘We decided to focus on Instagram because it wasn’t really kept up to date and I was given freedom to do so‘
DR: So Eva thought us how to bring more structure on our Instagram page, how to use the different types of posts (movie, carrousel, collage, …), how to create stories and competitions, how to use slogans and how to attract followers.
Eva: “In the coming weeks the lockdown will quietly be lifted and there will be more room for other types of communication again, which I am very much looking forward to. I’m not sure if I’ll ever work at the office myself, but working from home also has its positive aspects. Being outside in the sun with your laptop while your mummy brings you snacks is actually quite a luxury. ?
I want to thank everyone at DesignRepublic for giving me this opportunity.“
DR: DesignRepublic wants to thank Eva for the nice collaboration, the positive spirit, the inspiration and the creative ideas. Well done!
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