We were lucky to welcome a new face to Team Vanti recently after Natasha D’Agostino joined us for two weeks as she sought to gain work experience as part of her law and business degree which she is currently undertaking at Nottingham Trent University. In our latest blog, she summed up what she learnt and experienced during her time here and how she’ll be using her new knowledge in her future career.
As a second-year law and business student, I was eager to gain practical experience in the field to further develop my skills. That’s why I was thrilled to land an internship at Vanti, a technology company that specialises in smart building solutions. Upon joining, I had the aim to obtain a wide range of experience and understanding of the workflows of each department; this was so it could aid me in deciding my future career path.
Despite knowing very little about Vanti before I joined, it was fascinating to learn more as each day went by. One thing that impressed me the most about Vanti was their commitment to creating a positive work culture. From the moment I walked through the door, I was greeted with smiles and friendly faces. The staff were always willing to answer my questions and help me learn about their complex work, all which ensured that I felt welcomed throughout. Plus, there was often fresh brownies in the shared area, which was definitely an added bonus!
During my time at Vanti, I was given the opportunity to work in a variety of departments including human resources, marketing, sales, project management, consulting, operations and finance.
Within the human resources department, I was introduced to the many processes that are involved within the People Team such as formulating policies, onboarding and offboarding. Through working closely with the People Coordinator to check in on staff and make sure that everyone’s needs were met, I quickly learnt of the importance of communication and interpersonal skills that were essential in this role.
First, I was given the task of researching performance management processes in which is an important concept within the human resources department. Through conducting this research, I came across the Politeness Theory and created a presentation displaying how Vanti could implement this theory. I described strategies that Vanti could use to maintain and increase the performance within their workplace.
This was beneficial for me as it emphasised the relationship between the happiness of staff and their performance rates. In addition, I was also given the task of researching diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace. This project involved exploring different methods that other companies have used to enforce diversity and inclusion in order to not only provide some ideas to Vanti, but also gain a deeper understanding of the importance of such inclusion.
For this project, I created another presentation including the different methods of different companies, and the benefits and limitations that derived from each. These two projects allowed me to exercise and develop my research and presentation skills in which are both fundamental in most career paths.
My time within the marketing department was just as interesting. I performed a social media competitor analysis, which involved me comparing our website and other social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn with its competitors.
This was to curate ideas for how to improve the company’s social media presence. Also, I was given the task of writing content for Vanti’s social media calendar to encourage engagement and showcase the company’s amazing work culture. Through shadowing Vanti’s marketing and communications manager, I was able to sit in various meetings and see first-hand how both the marketing and sales departments work hand in hand to achieve the company’s goals.
In project management, I learned about the importance of planning and organisation. I was able to have an overview of the way that Vanti schedules and tracks the progress of their projects in the most efficient way, I found this quite impressive due to how complex their projects are, and the different components needed to reach the result.
I was given the task of calculating Vanti’s gross profit margin for their labour in different projects. I learnt how essential this process is to the success of the business. This is because it ensures that Vanti is charging their clients the correct price to cover their costs and make a profit. My time within the department gave me an insight to how Excel is used in relation to project management and how when used correctly, can be a useful tool in comparing the profitability of different projects.
The operations department informed me of how Vanti operates and how different departments use a variation of tools to collaborate and achieve common goals. This reinforced the importance of teamwork within the workplace as without, it would be easy to fall into confusion.
I was appointed the task of researching the concept of a physical T-card system to be used in the warehouse. I created an article entailing its purpose, how it would work in practice, who will be involved and the benefits and limitations that may occur upon its implementation. Having the initial overview of the operations was incredibly useful during this task as it allowed me to appreciate how valuable enforcing a system such as T-cards would be to employees such as the Warehouse Manager. Furthermore, this task further developed my research skills as this was something I was completely unaware of prior.
Overall, my internship at Vanti was an amazing experience. To describe Vanti in 3 words I’d say: Insightful, Positive and Inclusive. I gained valuable skills and knowledge that I know will be useful in my future career. Also, I got to work with one of the most supportive teams I’ve come across. Therefore, I would recommend this experience for anyone looking for experience in a dynamic and welcoming environment.