Crankstart Internship Experience: Riley Agutter

Oxford University alumnus Riley Agutter read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University College. In this article, Riley describes his experience on the Crankstart Internship Programme and how the programme helped break down his original assumptions of what careers paths Oxford students are expected to follow. He also shares details on how the Careers Service and Internship Office team supported him and shares advice for current Crankstart scholars at Oxford.

What services did you access through the Internship Office and Careers Service at the University of Oxford?

I rusticated at the start of Hilary term of my second year, so I applied for an internship to fill some of my time. I met with Fiona Whitehouse, who told me how to write a CV and a cover letter and gave me some feedback on a number of applications. I also took the time to attend a few Crankstart careers workshops each term. This was so important, as these sessions equipped me with many tips which I have used for years now. Fiona made the job application process feel quite straightforward and something I was capable of navigating, so much so that I was able to give a lot of her advice and feedback to my friends from home with their CVs, cover letters and career strategies too!

How do you think these services developed your career aspirations if at all?

Before thinking of my career and obtaining an internship, I was worried about my prospects of getting a job since I thought in terms of the most popular and often corporate career paths out of Oxford. I was concerned about how I would be able to fit into those cultures and modes of work. However, taking things one step at a time helped me to break down those original assumptions and misunderstandings, beginning with the Careers Service and then finding a Crankstart internship at Good Food Oxfordshire.

Gaining new skills built my confidence and helped me to think instead about: What can I bring to an organisation?, What kinds of organisations align with my values and ambitions?, and What impact do I want to make?, rather than asking doubtful questions like Who is going to take me?. I kept exploring this approach and applied it to my personal interests, imagining ways in which I could carve a space out for myself in areas of interest but in which I was yet to have any professional awareness or connection.

Fragrance has always been an important part of my life, so I began networking over the summer between my second and third year and met some amazing people. I interned at a fragrance house, IFF, over the Easter Vac of my third year and now, having graduated, I’m in a six-month internship at The Fragrance Foundation.

What Internship placements have you undertaken through the Crankstart Internship Programme? Could you tell us about your internship?

I gained an internship for 10 weeks with Good Food Oxfordshire (GFO) advertised through the Crankstart programme. I was due to start in the summer of 2020 but then the first lockdown was introduced, and GFO asked if I could start at the beginning of April, which I did. I researched the factors affecting the uptake and nutritional value of Free School Meals across the county, and how Covid was having an impact on this. We were also investigating in real-time how Covid was impacting more comprehensively upon the food network, food supply chains, and deliveries from food banks and for Free School Meals. The most difficult part was figuring out which people might be being missed out, for instance recently immigrated families who hadn’t yet established connections in their local community. Conducting semi-formal interviews with local schools and community groups, as well as designing and analysing a survey to GFO’s network members, gave us a clearer picture of the dynamics and constraints of frontline food delivery at this time. The results of this project went to Oxford City Council which informed their community food response.

How have these internships supported your career projections?

This was my first professional role, and I had to adapt to a new kind of pressure where my actions had consequences but also offered immediate value (which is, in a way, the opposite of writing academic essays each week at university). I picked up a lot of skills along the way and became more confident about the skills and attributes I already had. Crucially, it acclimatised me to ‘the world of work’, which before felt like such an arbitrary and intimidating concept. When you grow up in a household and a family where most work minimum wage for manual labour, or are on government benefits, the priorities and rhythms of day-to-day life you grow up exposed to are very different to that of modern white-collar knowledge work (and in my experience this very much applies to navigating university too!).

Good Food Oxfordshire gave me the support and the space not only to get used to ‘the world of work’, but certainly to find my own voice and cadence within it – and this has had such a profound and compounding impact on my personal and professional life. My sense is that this is a crucial benefit of undertaking a Crankstart internship, since your employer has made that commitment to support you in nuanced and specific ways which other organisations or schemes may overlook or neglect.

How easy has it been to obtain financial support through the Crankstart programme, and the team involved?

It was always a straightforward and stress-free experience for me. I received instalments of the Crankstart bursary at the start of each term, soon after my student loan instalments from Student Finance England. It was a huge relief to know that I wouldn’t have to worry about affording a full experience at Oxford. When I encountered some difficulties in supporting myself throughout rustication and further lockdowns, I was able to access further funds through my college.

Is there any advice you would give to a Crankstart Scholars who might be joining us for the first time this October?

If you grow up around not much money and have care responsibilities, it can be really hard to accept a helping hand if you’ve always been the helping hand for somebody else, so this is a big shift to make. Some prospective scholars may be thinking of not accepting the scholarship due to not feeling like its ‘their money’, being used to very steep uphill battles in many aspects of life, or out of a want to prove that you can ‘do it all yourself’.

My advice is this: you will get up that hill a lot quicker by using the Crankstart scholarship resources available to you. University is a period of immense challenge and incredible transition, across a range of areas in your life. Take the option of making some challenges easier for yourself (such as managing your finances, or finding career opportunities) so that you can focus all your energy on things where there aren’t as many quick and easy shortcuts (such as your academic work, or your development as a young person, or making your mark on the world).

If you can, I would really encourage you to use the money to explore and experiment with your interests – go visit remarkable places and attend events over the vacations, start dressing in different ways, go get the things for yourself that you intuit are good for you. This not at all about being materialistic, but absolutely about being individualistic -- carving out your own space for three or four years to understand, nourish and express yourself as you question, reject, embrace and commit to an incredible range of important things.