Third year RGU student Louise Freeborn has been undertaking a year-long placement with startup company Legasea. She has been working as a digital marketing intern in a bid to support their marketing, to boost the company’s profile.
In this latest Community Story, Louise and Ray Milne, of Legasea, write about the collaboration between RGU’s School of Creative and Cultural Business and Legasea and how they are still providing valuable industry experience, even through a global pandemic.
Legasea and RGU educational collaboration
I am thrilled to be part of Legasea this year. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I thought getting a placement looked unlikely, but thanks to the support of RGU’s placement team I have been working with Legasea. RGU have been extremely helpful while finding a placement and lined up so many great opportunities.
I have been at the company for a short time but can already tell this is going to be an exciting year. The team have welcomed me, and I have been able to get stuck into all things digital marketing from day one. I have a lot of freedom and responsibility within my role, and I get treated like any other member of the team. I have already had the opportunity to be a part of video production for an awards video, social media posting, and compiling creative content, and I cannot wait to learn and develop my skills further.
Legasea promotes sustainability and reuse, its ethos is one of a Circular Economy, taking one company’s waste and restoring it to be of value elsewhere. The company is dedicated to making the oil and gas industry more sustainable with a focus on reuse – offering an alternative route for recovered subsea production systems, or excess inventory. Reusable parts are used to fulfill the demand for urgent spares when crucial production is at risk during routine preventative maintenance or when a failure is encountered subsea.
They have already been awarded SME News’ Subsea Company of the Year 2020 and I am working with them to provide extra support in their marketing to boost their profile, as well as gain industry experience.
Going out on placement is giving me an incredibly valuable experience that will help me when I graduate and must compete in a competitive job market. I would highly recommend an industrial placement year to anyone who is given the opportunity as, so far, the experience has been amazing.
Ray Milne, Operations Director of Legasea, speaks about why he feels it is important to offer students this type of industry experience:
We felt that it was important to offer internship opportunities, as we developed as an organisation, as different insights from those outside of our industry and day-to-day operations, offer an opportunity for fresh perspectives on our business, strategies, and plans.
Also, I personally benefitted a lot from vocational training at the outset of my career, which had a positive, lasting, impact on myself and my employer at the time, and I’d like to ensure that others, at the beginning of their careers, are offered similar opportunities. In addition to internships, we have also begun offering Graduate Apprenticeships, via RGU and Skills Development Scotland, to our existing employees; and we are currently developing plans to offer Modern Apprenticeships in future.
Sam McKinstrie, Placement Manager at RGU, explains why placements are an integral aspect of many of our courses at RGU:
Louise’s placement with Legasea is an excellent example of how mutually beneficial placements can be for students and industry, and why they are an integral aspect of many of our courses here at RGU.
Placements provide our students with the invaluable chance to gain experience and boost their employability through applying their academic learning in real life situations. At the same time, hosts also benefit from placements in variety of ways including being able to have projects undertaken; accessing students with up to date knowledge and fresh ideas; contributing to CSR strategies and establishing talent pipelines.
At a time where the Covid-19 pandemic has brought uncertainty across society including placements, the university remains committed to being able to provide these opportunities to allow our students to gain experience and support business, whilst ensuring their safety.