Andy Woodall, owner and Managing Director of training company One Degree Difference, explains how his company benefitted from working with a high-quality intern from Keele University:

“I was introduced to the Keele University Intern programme by another business. He explained the benefits and passed me the details of Steve Hargreaves from the Keele Internship team. This was one of the best decisions I’ve made since starting my own business.

“After a relatively simple application and interview process, I was delighted to appoint Matt Jackson-Cook, a Year 3 Marketing and Management graduate. I was delighted when Matt contacted me prior to the interview to better understand my business – he was the standout candidate and it was an easy choice to make.

“Matt started in early January and we decided at our first meeting to work towards a number of loose goals rather than set out one particular project or problem for him to solve. I felt this was a more interesting and organic approach that would both suit my business and allow Matt the opportunity to try out lots of different ideas and approaches without worrying about hitting any deadlines or manufactured targets.

“Matt immediately set about helping me raise the profile of One Degree Difference, he spent more time getting to know the three parts of the business: Consultancy, Coaching and Training, and then found innovative ways to engage my audience. We focused on promoting some Management and Employability work I’d been doing as well as a high impact programme called Football with Goals.  Just this week we have found an increase of 35% in visits to my website month on month, and my views on LinkedIn have increased from an average of 900 to something approaching 2250 – pretty impressive stuff!”

Matt has this to say about his time with Andy and One Degree Difference: "I started my internship for One Degree Difference in January. The application process was easy enough, with an initial CV submission followed by a chilled out interview with my employer, Andy. I had a really lovely time working in my internship. Andy was a very supportive boss and the internship gave me a great opportunity to try out online marketing out of the context of my University degree.

“To anyone who is considering doing a Santander internship, I would definitely recommend it. Working to reach your allotted hours on top of your studies is tough but completely do-able".

Andy added: “I can’t recommend the Internship programme highly enough – Matt has helped promote my business and everyone at Keele and the Santander funding has been really useful. My advice would be to get in touch with Keele to see if there’s an intern who could help your business grow!”

For information on the opportunities available through the Keele-Santander programme please visit www.keele.ac.uk/internships. Details of other business support programmes available through Keele University’s Business Gateway can be found at www.keele.ac.uk/business.

For information on the Santander Universities commitment to Higher Education, please visit www.santander.co.uk/uk/santander-universities.