When I first heard of WEXO in the winter of 2008 I was an unemployed ex-student whose decision to study Egyptian Archaeology at University had sorely damaged his hope of finding a job in a recession. It was not a happy time. This was a point when I had signed up to the huge array of job websites on the internet all promising the impossible and almost always resulting in jobs in sales and recruitment, not my idea of a future!

As I filled in my WEXO profile I was quietly pessimistic that it would be like all the others but how wrong I was to be…

Within a week I had three interviews for internships and three very different companies that all appealed to me. After being accepted by two I chose to work for SUPERchick, a women’s personal training and fitness company, which not only provided me with a great holistic approach to a start up company but also filled my CV with some great skills for future employers to mull over. I was once told by a highly influential CEO in London that unpaid work experience was one of the key qualities he looked for in candidates and so I valued it highly. SUPERchick is run by Sky Sports presenter Georgie Thompson and I met some very interesting people on the job. My time was largely spent helping out with day to day office duties.

After this very successful internship I actually went on to work for WEXO itself in Business Development. I spent 7 months involved in all aspects of the business which involved everything from developing a Client Relationship Management tool to helping market WEXO at The Guardian Graduate Career Fair. My time at WEXO has now inspired me to go it alone and build my own start-up. My company, Alexandria Bespoke Libraries (www.alexandria-bespoke.com), builds collections of literature as well as dealing in rare and antiquarian books. This is something I had always wanted to do and working with and through WEXO I not only gained some indispensible skills and contacts but also the inspiration to go it alone!

I am truly grateful to WEXO for everything they have done for me and would recommend them to anyone that was in a similar position to me after university!


Elliott Rampley
thelibrary@alexandria-bespoke.com
www.alexandria-bespoke.com