Paula Meroño Lopez Blog
Paula Meroño Lopez is a 4th Year MA International Relations and Sociology student and completed a self-sourced internship this summer
The reality of self-sourcing an internship is easier than you think
Who has, at times, not felt like they wanted to try a more career-oriented job before graduating but needed to figure out how to go on about it? Throughout my degree and my years in university, I have asked myself this question very often. More so since I started my third year, and I could feel being a student coming to an end soon - and with no experience in my field or anything that interested me. That is when I decided it was time to do something about it, and what better way than through an internship!
From my personal experience as a university student, I have always wanted to be someone who was heavily involved with clubs, societies, charities, student organisations… However, as an international student living on my own in Glasgow and having to work all year round to pay rent and live here, I hardly ever have any free time left to pursue any of these activities. On top of this, being a Social Sciences undergraduate student and seeing many other fellow students get involved in tasks relevant to our futures, you can feel the pressure. I felt like I had to find a way to achieve something for myself too.
During my third year, I started considering a summer internship or job more seriously. I would keep an eye on the internship hub and do my own independent research on places in Glasgow I would like to work for, but it was so overwhelming! Deadlines most likely interfered with stressful times at university, work, my social life, or all at once. So, as many students would, I got stressed, procrastinated and thought it was too late to do something different for myself this summer.
Another important factor, especially if you are not local to Glasgow or if you would want to gain some experience abroad, was the fact that I was about to enter the fourth year of my undergraduate degree, and I felt like I needed to spend some time at home with my family. This would hopefully help me recharge my batteries before going back to working and studying hard for one more year. And then I thought, why not combine both of the things that I really want to do? That is when the research started again.
I began searching for an internship opportunity in March/April when my workload was lighter, and I had the time to properly picture what I would be interested in. Knowing that I wanted to do this internship back home in Spain, I quickly narrowed my options. Then, I spent some time looking for businesses or organisations that would interest me and asking around for help. From what people have told me and from what I gathered, the best way to go about something when you are determined to get it is to put yourself out there and send emails, make calls, and fill out applications… it can be tedious, but it will be worth it.
The most complicated part was navigating what the people hiring me needed from the University and what the University could provide. I had stepped back from other opportunities in the past because of the bureaucratic side of the process, but not this time. After some time looking through the University’s website, I found the self-sourcing option for an internship in the “International internships” section, under the general “Internships” area on the University’s website, and it was the first little step towards an internship. I then contacted Mary Macdonald, the Senior Contract Manager and person in charge of co-ordinating self-sourced internships, and explained a bit about my case. She was super fast to reply every single time about every single question. UpProject, the company in Spain I had been in touch with, was also very responsive and helpful.
Around mid/late April, most of the paperwork was sorted. It is a straightforward document that needs to be filled in by the company/organisation hiring you, yourself and the University. Everything was signed in no time, and before I knew it, I had sorted out an internship independently. Now that the internship was confirmed, what was left was between me and the company I interned for, which made things a lot easier since I was not in the middle of the communication process anymore. Stuff like personal details and contracts were nothing compared to self-sourcing an internship, right?
Once my internship started in May, I could not have been happier. I spent two months working in an office and being part of a department that deals with applications for the European Union’s funding scheme as an Assistant Project Manager. As a third party, UpProject and, more specifically, UpEuropa, is in charge of keeping an eye out for new funding opportunities; advising their clients on the calls that might suit their business/organisation/institution, etc. best; researching, completing and sending through the applications; and following up on the results, as well as plan and carry out the project’s implementation if the application is successful. I learned a lot about this matter, but I was also able to help in other fields I had never even considered, like marketing, communications or content creation. Actually, I think I have ended up enjoying doing the latter more, although I like to say I am always open to different experiences.
In the end, I will say that a luck factor probably has contributed to everything lining up for me as I wanted for this summer. But I also want to highlight the importance of staying persistent if you really want to do something. Bureaucracy is boring, scary, and, in many cases, unnecessary as it only acts as a barrier for many people to achieve what they are aiming for or need. This time it was different, and I can confidently say it is not hard to do this and many other things.
I personally would like to encourage anyone that might be thinking of doing something similar. Self-sourcing an internship not only gave me some fantastic working experience - and helped me realise what job I do not want to do in the future, haha - but also helped me with feeling more confident about my skills and future career. So much so that, as my internship was about to end in Spain and I had to return to Glasgow, I applied for another internship through the Internship Hub and got it. But that is a story for another day…