James Clarke (BA Sport & Physical Education, 2008) opened a bespoke internship at LEGO to Birmingham Dubai students and recent graduates. Omar Tawfeeq (BSc Business Management, 2022) secured the position to enhance his skills. Hear from both James and Omar about the benefits of an internship
James, why did you decide to host this internship?
James: Our local Middle East & Africa business unit team is relatively small in size but business is growing quickly. Internships help us adapt to this fast-paced growth, supporting our internal team + external partners to deliver on plans and objectives
What did you the enjoy the most during your internship?
Omar: The opportunity to learn outside my scope of work and the chance to push some of my own ideas and innovations to be implemented within the company
What projects and tasks did Omar help with?
James: Omar has responsibility for digital merchandising & supporting our eCommerce team more broadly. Omar, I’ll leave you to build here!
Omar: Maintaining a uniform and clean way of displaying content online, including implementation of content (content examples includes images, titles, videos and A+ of products)
Creating listings for products and managing their launch dates
Conducting website audit on eCommerce websites to find gaps/potential improvements
Proofreading and creation Arabic content for implementation in Arabic speaking countries
Building stock and data reports based on product and campaign performance
What did Omar bring to the internship?
James: Energy, fresh eyes, and new ways of thinking. Important to have this perspective.
Questioning/challenging, attitude of getting stuff done, team focus / collaborating across departments.
What advice would you give to new graduates?
Omar: To be proactive and keen to learn more within your scope of work and outside of your scope
What advice would you give to alumni who are thinking of hosting an internship?
James: ‘Win / Win’ mindset for both company and intern – important internships have opportunities to develop intern and experiences beyond basic tasks.
This can be space for courses, eLearning, collaborating across departments, wider project involvement, experience with retailers, agencies and external partners.
What have you learnt from the internship that would help you with your future career?
Omar: Entry-level (Junior position) work responsibilities, which include but are not limited to, campaign implementation management, weeks of coverage and stock analysis, product assortment maintenance and creation, junior account management and coordination, search engine optimization strategy, and sponsored ads management
How did your university experience help with your career?
James: Fundamentals of many careers within FMCG / commercial positions – time management, structured planning, collaborating within teams.
Analytical thinking – being able to evaluate data to come to decisions, while also being able to deal with ambiguity (being capable to make decisions with incomplete / partial info).
What is your fondest memory of university?
Omar: Seeing the new Dubai campus finally open after being in the university for more than 2 years (and Professor Fiona Oster’s class)