The world of premium spirits is a vast, hissing and simmering cauldron of flavour. Every drink aims to push the boundaries on the senses, to breach the comforting brackets of familiarity – transforming that sip of gin into synaesthesia, where taste, smell and the feel of liquid on the tongue are each carefully crafted components of an overall EXPERIENCE. Hundreds of Pop-up drink fairs and conventions are erected across the country – thousands across the globe – to compare, contrast and blend new experiences from around the world. The company I would work with for three months straight after I left University was a drinks company, but their product was non-alcoholic. It was a mixer – something to blend these weird and wonderful flavours with. The twist: they were all-natural mixers, with an ethos hell-bent on exposing and toppling a tonic market saturated with artificially sweetened, flavoured and branded products.

My internship began with a tip-off from WEXO’s Robin who notified me that a new, exciting opportunity had appeared and that it may be of interest to me. After having a quick look over the internship details, I decided that this was exactly the something that I had been looking for –the chance to try something new.,to throw myself into an area that I was interested in, but knew little about and to dabble in something that would seriously benefit my critically experience-malnourished CV…

After an interview and a weekend excursion to the unfamiliar realm of London, I was called by Tom – Fever-Tree’s Sales Manager – who alerted me that I had been accepted and my internship would begin immediately. I was to be working with him in what the drinks industry refers to as the ‘On-Trade’, meaning individual or collective premises that worked outside of main grocery channels, such as bars, pubs, clubs and hotels. I would be visiting these venues alone, garnering specific information on each ‘account’, gathering feedback and finding out the best ways in which the product could grow in conjunction with the account’s consumer-base, geographical region and, if applicable, its group.

An ‘account’, I soon learned, very rarely existed as an individually licensed, autonomous entity. A pub would tend to belong to a ‘group’ or even a large, multinational brewer. My three months, Tom announced, would predominantly consist of travelling to and visiting a colossal amount of groups and businesses, while he constantly assessed me. The path to Sales-Mecca would, I soon learned, consist of episodic, enriching periods of guidance and confidence-nurturing from my mentor, but more often than not would involve hurling me repeatedly into volatile situations and watching how I dealt with it, possibly with a very small morsel of sadistic satisfaction.

Although horrifically nerve-wracking during the first few weeks this method allowed me to develop a certain skill-set desperately necessary in a Sales role: thinking on your toes and making the most of the resources available to you. It was initially a terrifying experience; I’d be walking into a pub or restaurant, asking for the bar manager above the hubbub (this would instantly turn a few heads in my direction – the man feeding his dog cold chips at the table closest would look up and grimace at me as I stood there shivering in my salesperson shirt and chinos), waiting a good five minutes whilst sweat began to ooze out of my hands and armpits until they came over and grasped my clammy palm, ready hear my delivery. “Hello!”, I would say, “I’m Will from Fever-Tree”. That was my planned opening, the rest would hopefully follow.

Yet grudgingly I began to revel in this method of learning and within two weeks I was allowed to set out alone “in the field” with a suitcase full of products, botanicals and a Salesman swagger. Within three weeks I was comfortably “cold-calling” – the method of entering an alien premises, attempting with your Fever-Tree chat and a favourable spread of the product in an ancient cocktail magazine to strum the apathetic strings of the Manager’s heart until Tonic-induced ecstasy is splayed upon his business plan. All this while trying to retain that rehearsed, comforting and assuring, “I’m-totally-in-charge-look-into-my-dark-confident-pupils”, rock-steady, if a tad unnerving, Sales-stare. Tom, my boss, did it on cue. He’d walk proudly into premises and come out the same upbeat, down to earth fellow as if all he had received inside was a gut-warming pat on the back. Inside the pub or restaurant his demeanour would quickly change and a clearly researched and idealistic figure emerged, at once comforting the client and finding ways to push buttons and tap into an interest he or she didn’t realise they had in a product they’d never heard about. It took me a few months of repeatedly cold-calling venues to really get the gist of it.

Sales is all about communication. Once you have this fundamental nailed down, skills can be embedded and your persona can be polished. What I took away from Fever-Tree was a confidence I know I wouldn’t have developed unless I had been thrown headfirst into the deep-end, and I desperately urge anyone who hasn’t to do so immediately. In the end I chose not to continue on at my internship because it was ultimately an area of expertise that wasn’t me. That said, it has genuinely been one of the most fulfilling, eye-opening and fun experiences that I have ever had. I would recommend the company to anyone who genuinely has a passion for the drinks industry and communicating to the ocan of people within it. The people were immense, and I’d like to thank everyone at Fever-Tree for the chance to work at one of the most professional and inspiring workplaces in the UK. In particular I’d like to thank Tom Armstrong who was a genuine mentor to me, who I looked up to a great deal and who made the experience just that bit more special. I also learned a lot I’m sure!

William Martin

From my first day at Sipsmith I could never have imagined that I would be involved in so many different roles and responsibilities in such a relatively short period of time. From consumer samplings in Selfridges, to travelling the length and breadth of the country promoting the brand and training staff, to watching the Kooks at a festival in Suffolk, there was never a dull moment in the three months I spent at Sipsmith.
Working for a small company could not have been more beneficial to me as an intern as it allowed to gain a huge amount of experience in a variety of different areas, and exposed me to the excitements of being part of a relatively new, independent venture. There really were far too many roles within Sipsmith to cover in this space, but here are just a few of the more important and enjoyable ones:

• Consumer samplings in stores across London to increase sales and increase consumer awareness of Sipsmith
• Visiting on-trade accounts at hotels, pubs and cocktail bars, and new venues to try and increase on-trade sales
• Researching foreign drinks markets to help Sipsmith make more informed decisions when exporting its products
• Delivering stock to accounts in London
• Visiting industry trade shows and festivals across the country

The energy and passion of the Sipsmith founders is infectious and unavoidable, and their genuine love for producing the finest hand-crafted spirits rubs off, not just on the other members of the team, but also on anyone who visits the distillery or is a guest on one of the legendary tours. Throughout my time at Sipsmith I really felt as though I was part of something, that the work I did was of some importance and that I was not there just to make the tea! It was hard work but incredibly rewarding, and I certainly have a lot to show for the three months I worked at the first copper distillery in London for almost 200 years.

This was a paid role and throughout this process WEXO were incredibly helpful, both at finding internship opportunities that suited my needs and interests, and also supporting me during the period I was actually working. I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking to find employment opportunities.

Ed Gillespie

It’s hard enough leaving university and finding a job, let alone not having a clue what you want to do in life. At least I’ve got a year to decide but with a long 3 month summer ahead of me I was beginning to panic about what I was going to do to fill my time. Having done various money earning jobs in the past I wanted to invest a little time into my future and do some work experience. Having exhausted my own contacts, I discovered WEXO thanks to my sister and it opened up a whole host of options, not to mention the time it saved trawling through the internet sending hundreds of applications to millions of companies. I can honestly say WEXO bent over backwards to help me – after a couple things fell through, WEXO made sure they were on the case and looking for other alternatives. Through one of their targeted alerts, WEXO informed me of a placement for work experience available in a small bespoke travel company run by Laura Jeffrey and I was put me in touch with her.

I have now done 2 weeks work experience at Passepartout Travel and have thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. It was exactly what I was looking for, a small company where I could be really involved with the day to day running of the business, and involved in decision making. I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to be one of a million in a huge company and this experience has suited me perfectly. I have taken on real responsibility in the form of creating Passepartout’s monthly newsletter, working alongside Laura and learning how to create the right ‘look and feel’, be concise and help set apart Passepartout from other companies. It has been a fascinating experience and made me realise how much hard work goes into some of the smallest tasks. Another benefit of working for a small company was the opportunity to get out and about, going to meetings with contacts in other industries and not necessarily working 9 to 5; I worked until what I was doing was done. But probably the most valuable thing I have learnt has been how much hard work it takes setting up your own company and but how great the rewards can be, and I can safely say this would not have been possible without the brilliant help of WEXO who made it all possible.

Huge thanks WEXO!

Tessa Robinson

When I arrived in London, after graduating from Newcastle, I was a little unsure of what career path to take. But after successfully completing a business training course I stumbled across WEXO. WEXO are not like any other recruitment agency. They took a genuine interest in me as an individual and offered some great advice and support. Most importantly they helped me find an internship at MiH Jeans. I interned for three months before being offered a permanent position back in April.

I work on the UK Sales team which is something I would have never imagined doing when I graduated. MiH Jeans has been an adventure from the moment I started and has grown massively as a brand. Because it is still a relatively new company which is evolving everyday there is always something exciting going on.

My daily responsibilities are constantly changing but here is an example of some of my daily tasks:

• Responsible for Koodos- sending out ordered jeans through Parcelforce and replenishing stock levels
• Ordering up Jeans from the warehouse for the Sales and PR teams
• Helping organise and potentially being in charge of future sample sales
• Taking part in Sales visits- being aware of their current and previous orders and taking any relevant press information
• Filling out marketing research questionnaires for stockists to help with future marketing and sales ideas.
• Checking in returns and organising for these to be sent down to the warehouse with correct packing lists which will then be filed here.
• Accounts

Throughout my time I have slowly been given more responsibility and I now work directly with the buyers. this is great experience as it has given me the chance to make a name for myself in the industry whilst building relationships with the buyers.

The team at MiH Jeans are all hugely passionate about the brand and this didn’t take long to rub off on me which makes it a much more enjoyable place to work as everyone is eager to see the brand succeed.

MiH Jeans has been a fantastic opportunity for me as it has opened my eyes to a role I would have never considered before and this is all thanks to the help and support of WEXO. I can’t thank you enough.

Nicola Tulloch

Having worked in various catering jobs from chalet cook to restaurant chef in the four years since I left university I knew two things – I didn’t want to work in a kitchen, but I did want to work in the food industry somehow. So a friend of mine who had got an internship suggested signing up to WEXO.

Within a week I had two interview offers and was offered an internship with ‘housebites’ a very small Internet start-up. Housebites is a new way of ordering high quality takeaway food from chefs in your local area. At the moment we haven’t even launched yet but watch this space.

As the company is so young and small, I am involved in many different aspects of the operation but my main role is as the ‘community manager’ – which at the moment consists of recruiting our chefs for when we get up and running. Having absolutely no business experience or knowledge, my time at Housebites has been invaluable, especially as the head of the company is a highly experienced internet entrepreneur and has been very kind and patient in including me in many aspects of starting an internet company. I especially enjoy the variety of working in such a small team and no two days are ever the same. It’s also great to have met so many talented and passionate chefs and just nattering about food all day – right up my street!

I feel lucky to have been here at the start of what I hope will soon become a household name. My internship comes to an end at the end of July, and I really hope that Housebites will ask me to stay on as the company launches and begins to grow. I really can’t thank WEXO enough for the fantastic service that they are providing for all of the people like me who don’t really know exactly what it is that they want to do or who can’t find a ‘real’ job in this tough market. I wish them all the best in the future.

Tom Gurney

I’ve just finished my internship at Sipsmith Independent Spirits. Here I was working as the Activation Sales Manager.

Working at Sipsmith has been a joyous experience combining off-trade sales with a strategy and enthusiam inspired by the founders. One might say an infectious courtesy and respect that ensures all of those envolved within the Sipsmith family, from the founders to the sales assistants right the way down to the discerning drinker are all seemingly drawn in by the excitement of what has been acheived and what is acheivable.

In no way has my role been static or monotonous, it has been a whirlwind of new challenges and I am always willing to take these on due to the belief that I am part of something. Working within a small team has been extremely beneficial, never a dull moment and a far cry from my previous work in the financial sector. Here I can appreciate a “product”. Something that brings people together within an industry which is hard work yet rewarding, very much along the lines of the mantra “work hard, play hard”.

Unfamiliar with WEXO before I now realise how it has enabled companies such as Sipsmith to get the best out of their interns.

Clark Betz

Last week I was invited to attend a breakfast and ‘opinion-former panel event’ at the BIS Conference Centre. It was titled as above – apparently a coincidental duplication of the book of the same name (which I’m now struggling to ‘get in to’) by Ross Perlin – who sadly wasn’t able to attend.

If you’re interested, you can hear the whole event podcast here or read Psychology Magazine’s well written summary of what was discussed here

It was brilliant that Editorial Intelligence brought together many other parties with an interest in answering the question of how we should skill up young people to get jobs.

But I came away feeling disheartened. The panel were certainly accomplished and the talk was well attended but any opportunity to unite opinion and take real action was missed. When given the opportunity, skilling up young people to get jobs will best be achieved by Education and Inspiration on 3 levels. Sadly, the weaknesses of this event lay partly in the title and partly in the make-up of the panel.

1. EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE:. Simon Waugh, Executive Chairman of the National Apprenticeship Service is clearly a successful, hard working kind of guy who has probably sacrificed the pecuniary gains of executive level roles in the private sector to try and make a difference and help others in public. So no disrespect to him, but calling an event ‘Intern Nation’ and then including someone on the panel who runs an apprenticeship service only perpetuates the semantic confusion as to what an internship is – and more importantly isn’t. In case you haven’t read my rants before, here is my take on the distinction between work experience, internships and apprenticeships. Without clarification (and education), interns, ‘workies’ and apprentices will never really understand their rights and government will continue to fuel the fire with inconsistent policies:

   * Work experience: Short placements (generally 1-2 weeks) which are usually for younger people (16-18) to get a ‘taste’ of the working world and typically unpaid though we encourage companies to pay expenses.

   * Internships: 1-3 month placements, largely for undergraduates and increasingly graduates, which should be paid for legal AND moral reasons given that the company derives financial value which should be shared.

   * Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships as we see them are long term (1-2 year) paid training programmes which leave you with a vocational qualification usually in a craft or a skill. We believe they should be seen as an equal alternative to higher education. We do not believe that ‘The Apprentice’ on BBC 1 helps the classification quandry. Realistically, we would have called it ‘The Accomplice’ or more appropriately, the ‘The Attention Seeker’.

   * Jobs: What all the above should eventually result in.

2. COMPANIES NEED TO BE EDUCATED AND INCENTIVISE:. It’s a shame that someone as influential and expressive as Laurie Penny (Journalist, author and activist )seems to see the stick as the only solution to the ill justice of unpaid internships. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you?” Along with many others, she is overtly focused on naming and shaming companies that might not know any better. It would be a real shame if such companies close their doors to young people all together for fear of falling foul of bureaucracy. As I explained to ‘Jilted Generation’ author, Shiv Malik, afterwards, WEXO would far rather we all focus on the carrot of incentivising companies to offer paid internships (via the STEP schemes, proposals for recouping costs of internships from VAT etc) rather than antagonise companies with the stick and choke the supply pipeline? We might also want to remind them that the average Return on Investment of a Graduate is 500% over 3 years.
3. IMPROVING EDUCATION PER SE:. It’s The education system is this country IS partly to blame for not skilling people up to get jobs. This is as much the case as it was for the chair of the event, Brian Groom of the FT, failing to break up the childish confrontation between Citibank Head of Graduate Recruitment, Gemma Lines (I hope she concedes that the City owes the country a debt of gratitude and should sponsor other internships as well as inflating their own remuneration even at this level) and Laura Penney (in fairness it was driven by the latter). The UK’s education system has got worse and this is successively shown to be the case by numeracy and literacy statistics. Moreover, higher education (especially now that it’s paid for) should give its pupils far better careers education and include vocational experience as part of some degrees.

Strangely, the 2 panel members who were least controversial, focused least on the question in hand. This said, Martin Bright , former journalist and founder of New Deal of the Mind (who we work with on BITC’s Work Inspiration campaign) and Faye Wenman, from theTaylor Bennett Foundation, were both entertaining and informative about the good work that they do in trying to create a more meritocratic and productive society. We applaud their work (and the social enterprise, Talent to Work, that this event was ultimately launching) but look to companies and organisations with the reach and resources that we do not currently have to unite the rest of us in effecting real change.

Robin Kennedy

Regarding my career direction I’ve always felt lucky in that I realised early on that I wanted to work in some capacity within the music industry. With this in mind I was acutely aware that in order to make myself more attractive to employers I needed to build a strong CV of work experience and internship placements, something I did at a number of companies invested in the creative field (Remedy TV, FRUKT Music Intelligence, Bella Union, Warner Bros. Records). From a music television production company to both independent and major record labels I gained a strong knowledge of how different areas of the industry operated.

However, it wasn’t until I saw an internship advertised on WEXO that I really felt that I’d found the role that would directly lead me into the career line I wished to follow – that of music syncing and licensing. Whilst there were a number of outstanding opportunities advertised on the website it was the fantastic position as a music intern at Platinum Rye Entertainment that I hoped to gain. The company is the world’s largest broker of celebrity and recording artist talent for ad campaigns and PR events with recent campaigns including both Friendly Fires and Bat For Lashes for Gucci, The Beatles for Hugo Boss and the recent Lucozade advertisements that have been the talk of the town! I was therefore eager to apply as there really would be no greater education in this sector…

Having submitted my profile I was fortunate enough to be asked to interview with the two UK Directors of Music, following which I learnt I had been offered the role and I was elated! From the get-go I felt like a valued member of the team and was immediately involved in a range of tasks – from music searches to administrative responsibilities I felt that I was gaining the most invaluable experience I could have hoped for.

It’s safe to say that without the WEXO team and and the STEP scheme (which paid me a training allowance commensurate with National Minimum Wage) I would never have had this opportunity to work at such a great company that has hands down provided the best working environment I’ve ever experienced. It even looks like I might be staying here a bit longer…

Tara Lynch

I’ve just started reading a new book called ‘Intern Nation‘ by Ross Perlin. Mummy bought it for me because I’m special. Actually my mother bought it for me because I imagine she’s starting to believe in what we’re trying to do at WEXO. I can’t help it that she knows where to get it or that she wanted to pay for it. And that is the issue at stake. Forgive me if I sound like a broken record (I feel like one) but there’s nothing wrong with knowing people who can get you something e.g an internship. The problem starts when other people aren’t given access to it too. The problem is compounded when a role that has a’ list of duties and work set hours’ (as per UK governmental guidance) is not paid. Legalities aside it is unethical and the biproduct is that it discriminates against other people who can’t afford to do it for free.

Despite being just 28, (as Churchill said “If you’re not a liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative when you’re 40, you have no head.“) Perlin’s analysis is brave yet commercially aware and this guy is clearly no fool ( though he is currently writing a dictionary of a Chinese language spoken by just 6000 people). He sees value in internships, he does not want to choke the supply of them; rather he is passionate about making them work for us ALL. Here are 5 snippets that have particualarly resonated with me so far (and I’ve only just finished the preface):

1) The U.K. is apparently 5 years behind the U.S. in its use of internships but Perlin warns of what internships could become: “Until just a few decades ago, the word [internship] referred almost exclusively to a particular period of hands-on apprenticeship in the medical profession… Today…probably… between 1 and 2 million people participate in internships each year in the U.S…. ‘The rise of the internship is the market’s finding the workaround to government regulations, evidence of the tendency of liberty to grow up like grass in the cracks of sidewalks”.

2) Perhaps the worst example of how internships can be exploited: “Required by the school to take ‘a social internship’, two girls in the Netherlands, aged fourteen and fifteen, intern as prostitutes in the local red light district”

3) Who is to blame? “All of us – employers, parents schools, government agencies, and interns themselves – are complicit [albeit subconsciously] in the devauing of work, the exacerbation of social inequality, and the disillusionment of young people in the workplace that are emerging as a result of the internet boom.”

4) Hope: Perlin sees his book as “a step towards sanity and towards justice”. In a recent Guardian review, Andy Beckett lamented that things could get worse before they get better. In the Times, Kaya Burgess quoted Intern Aware and Interns Anonymous as saying there is a limit to how much they can fight the system. We do not believe that the system needs fighting. There are a multitude of well mentored, paid internships on offer to the best candidates in the UK and we like to think a lot of them are on WEXO. As ever, what we need to do is work together to make sure that there are reasons for companies to offer even more of them.

I look forward to updating you. The problem is I always seem to start books in earnest but then start others and take ages to finish them. Amongst others, I’m also currently reading ‘The Big Short‘ by Michael Lewis and Keith Richards’ autobiography. Sorry Mum, but both are infinitely more entertaining and I suspect at least one of them contains some pertinent careers advice to boot.

Robin Kennedy. Co-Founder, WEXO