Cocoa Runners (Alumni Host, Magdalen College

Similarly, being able to go into the office on the first day allowed me to establish the work I

would be doing immediately, and made the subsequent remote working much easier to

manage. In this way, the hybrid nature of the work worked well, and I was able to develop a

routine that worked for me while also feeling like I was able to develop an understanding of the

organization and feeling like I was a part of its work.

Lasting Impressions

I really enjoyed my experience at Citizens' Advice West

Oxfordshire. I was able to develop my understanding of the

practical applications of the research skills I have developed

in my degree and consider how they could apply to a future

career path. Undertaking the internship has confirmed my

career ambitions to work in the non-profit sector and to

work in a role which involves research. While I'm still

considering what career path I would like to pursue, the

internship allowed me to consider my options in more

detail. Being able to shadow work at the organisation was

especially valuable to this as I believe I was able to gain some practical insight into at least one

structure a career in this sector could take. I was also able to develop my research skills which I

will be able to transfer into my degree as I enter my last year. Everyone at Citizens' Advice was

very welcoming and made sure I could ask questions and discuss the work I was doing and the

work of the organization more broadly.

MSt English (1900-present), a mixture of in-person and remote working

Work Projects

The internship project I completed related to a section of the Cocoa Runners website called

Chocopedia. Chocopedia is a series of pages providing educational resources about the

production of chocolate. Areas covered include science, health, diet, taste and flavour, the

processes of chocolate production, geography, ethics, industry news, chocolate's impact on the

environment, and chocolate's history and relation to culture. The task for my internship was to

help update Chocopedia and complete search engine optimisation (SEO). This involved editing

the copy on articles and aligning it with popular search terms, as well as editing it to improve its

readability score. I learned how to manipulate texts to make them more easily findable via

search engines and to make readable, effective copy. My work also involved finding and

deleting duplicate content and amalgamating articles on similar topics into masterposts. I

began my internship by playing around with different sections of Chocopedia, writing about

chocolate moulds and white chocolate.

After this, I chose to focus on the history

and culture section. I overhauled the

landing page for the history and culture

section. I also edited articles on many

topics, including on the history of festivals

such as Halloween and Lent, and on the

history of chocolate in the Aztec Empire

and pre-Columbian Meosamerica. I was able to explore my own topics and wrote new articles

on topics such as chocolate and the history of medicine, chocolate and religion, and an

industrial history of chocolate. During my time doing this I also undertook other work, such as

putting together gift boxes for particular campaigns, and tasting chocolate at the office. I also

made social media content, and did research on emerging areas in the chocolate industry such

as ceremonial cacao. Cocoa Runners is a small company (3-4 people), so I met and worked

closely with the whole team. We had two meetings a day where we discussed our work all

together, as well as other meetings to work on particular projects. I was well supported in my

work - I had a lot of freedom to pursue my own ideas, but there was help when I needed it!

Daily Life

My internship was mostly remote. My day began at 9:30 with a morning meeting, which the

whole team attended. These meetings gave me insight into what was going on in the company

and what sort of work everyone else was doing. It was really helpful as it enabled me to set a

standard for my productivity that matched with everyone else's: I had clear tasks to get done

before the afternoon meeting at 4:30 and by the end of the day, but it also meant I didn't feel

bad when tasks took longer than expected, because I soon realised that happens to everybody!

I tended to use the morning to work on whatever had come up in the morning meeting, as well

as tying up any loose ends from the day before, before getting on to whatever else I had to do

that day. I'm best at focusing in the morning, so I usually worked very hard then and took a

relatively late lunchbreak. During lunch I often went for a walk or ran some errands, making

sure to get some fresh air and stretch my legs.

After lunch, I'd usually put the finishing touches on

what I'd done in the morning, ready for the

afternoon meeting. My ability to concentrate tends

to wane in the afternoon, so I made sure to take

small breaks (e.g. five minutes of yoga, or popping

downstairs to make a cup of tea), to keep my

energy up. We then had another team meeting at

4:30, after which I'd finish my daily tasks before

clocking off at around 6:30. I really loved having weekends and evenings free, as it was a big

contrast from full days of work. At university, you don't tend to have 'time off' and are just

working all the time, albeit at a different pace. When you take time off there's always pressure

and the thought that you should be working. I'll be going back to academic work in October,

when I begin my PhD, so it was really great to be able to experience a different rhythm of life.