Commonwealth Games Legacy Intern, The Scottish Government
It would be easy to try to describe my internship experience working within the Commonwealth Games Legacy Team at the Scottish Government using the raft of positive adjectives usually attributed in such an occasion. However, there is no one word which encapsulates how rewarding, challenging, developing, inspiring and motivational my first two months here have been.
As a Politics graduate, probably the most beneficial aspect of my internship so far has been seeing the people, departments, organisations and bodies I had only read about in books beforehand come to life and actually interacting with them and making requests of them in order to get a job done.
Even in the first couple of months, the internship has provided me with a plethora of learning opportunities. I have had the opportunity to attend presentations given by the UK Ambassador to Greece and the Irish Ambassador to the UK, I am also soon to be taking a course which will improve my presentation skills, and in the near future will be taking a course which will equip me with the skills I need to write speeches for Ministers, and finally I will be going on a course which will teach me about policy-making within the Scottish Government.
I have been welcomed and supported by a truly helpful team who not only ask me to contribute to their work, but also to take ownership and lead on tasks with high degrees of responsibility. I have only ever had the impression that the internship title is decorative, as I have always felt like everyone else’s equal, a team member upon whom the others can call to get a job done and drive the work of the team forward. I have been given the opportunity to be part of meetings with some key government stakeholders and learn from experienced members of staff – all of which has given me skills and knowledge which I will be able to transfer to any future positions.
One of the highlights of the internship for me so far has been organising and providing support to the Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, Shona Robison MSP, at a photo call with The Saturday Café, a project which is receiving funding from one of the 51 legacy programmes supported by the Scottish Government, to host its own ‘Opening Ceremony’. I organised for Clyde, the mascot of the Commonwealth Games, to attend the event and also got the opportunity to brief the Minister, both in writing and verbally, ahead of the event. Working with the Minister and seeing an event I helped to organise come to life has almost certainly been one of my highlights from the first two months of the internship.
This event also acted as a launch pad to help me to facilitate the Minister’s attendance at a second event just last week at which she gave a speech. For this, I worked with experienced members of staff to ensure her complete briefing and speech were ready on time, which gave me a sense of responsibility, and a feeling of fulfilment upon seeing the Minister draw upon a project which I had seen through to completion.
Working within the Commonwealth Games Division at a time when the Games are racing towards us faster than the athletes taking part in them has given me a raft of new skills, and helped me to build upon ones I had before. I know that, wherever my career path might take me after my internship is over, I will have a whole range of new skills and competencies to demonstrate to future employers.
Daniel Jones
Adopt an Intern Alumni
Scottish Government Intern
Commonwealth Games Legacy Team
