This month, GCSE student Mia Carter came to JG Towers for a week to do some work experience. She shadowed some of our designers, helped our Charities and Finance teams and got a taste of what it’s like to work at Justgiving.
We loved having her here and asked her to write a little something for the blog before she left. Here’s what she said.
“This month, my whole year group had to find a place that would accept you for a week of work experience. Lucky for me, I was able to get a place at Justgiving for the week of 11th-15th May. First of all, I wasn’t too sure about it, it was all the way in London which is about an hour journey from where I live, when I could have just gone somewhere right near where I live. However, after a couple of hours of being here I was so glad that I did choose to come here over everywhere else.
The team at Justgiving are unlike anywhere else. The jobs they do and how they do them are unbelievable. The first day I came into the office, I was nervous as anyone would be, there were around 40 of them, and one of me, but I got taken round and said hi to everyone, and everyone was so friendly and helpful. As soon as I came into the office I had someone that was showing me round and introducing me to everyone. Everyone was getting up and shaking my hand and saying hi and introducing themselves. Also people were asking me if I wanted anything, or if I knew where the tea and coffee was.
The first thing I also realised, was everyone was so relaxed, wearing jeans and having a laugh at the same time as getting their job done, I think this is so much nicer and easier than having an office where everyone is in suits and sit in silence. The office environment is one of the things that makes Justgiving different to everywhere else. Another thing which makes it so different is the people. The people here are all so hard-working, but have a really funny sense of humour as well. I mean right now behind me during the lunch hour someone is saying to someone else ‘dip the burger in the beans mate, they’re heavenly!’.
I have been having fun as well as working and getting an insight into how the company works and what work is like, just like the employees of the company do every day (except they know what they are doing). I’ve been helping with the files, scanning and sorting out charity applications – not the most amusing thing to do, but it’s work. Oh, I was also zooming around the office on my wheelie-chair, taking pictures of everyone for the Flickr page, so check them out. 
I have been so lucky to get this placement at Justgiving, and I have had so much fun and also learned so much from the Justgiving team. How to use Photoshop, HTML codes, Flash cs4, filing and what the helpdesk does. Might try and get a job here when I leave school – the team would be happy about that, seeing their faces with the amount of biscuits I brought in this morning. Perfect job, perfect team, perfect work experience ”
Thanks for all your help Mia, it was great working with you, and good luck with your studies!
