My name is Demos Georgiades and I am a final year law student at University of Derby. Recently, I have been successful in my application for an internship in the European Parliament in Brussels. My passion in law combined with my interest in politics are the reasons why I decided to submit my application for the 4-months program.
When I was a first-year law student in Derby, I was informed about this internship and I decided to fill the relevant form and proceed with the application. I was not concerned about my academic skills or my grades since I had great results in both my GCSE’s exams and my school tests. However, when I was reading the interview requirements, I realised that except from my grades I had nothing to show in order to prove that I am the right person to get this internship. When I asked my advisor, he advised me to work on my personality and my personal statement before I do the application, since my application was likely to be rejected. That was the moment that I realised that grades are important, but work experience and evidence of great personality is the key to succeed, not only in job applications but generally in life too. Taking into consideration my experience, I can say that employers prefer to employ an active and experienced candidate rather than a student with high grades but no evidence of a special personality.
My first step towards building my personal statement was in August 2015 when I created the Greek society at Derby, aiming to bring the Greek students together. The society in 2015 had 30 members and now has 250 active members! Being the Founder and President of the Greek society in Derby for 2 years was not only an exceptional experience for me, but also helped me to expand my social circle and develop my leadership skills. Moreover, co-operating with sponsorships improved my negotiating skills. A few months later, I created the first online Radio station for Greek Students around the United Kingdom! In addition, as a result of my passion in football, I decided to organise the first Greek Football League in the East Midlands in which teams from Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Sheffield and Birmingham participated. In addition, I created a non-profitable charity organisation called Be a Hero.
All those activities did not directly improve my legal skills or knowledges, but contributed to the initial steps of being an active person with better personality, which was my real target.
Those accomplishments aided the development of basic social network to do my first steps in law and politics. In 2016, I decided to get involved in political life and I was selected as a representative of FPK (right-side political party in Cyprus) in the UK. Later, I was elected by the Greek-Cypriot students in the UK to represent them in the national federation of Cypriots in the UK. Last but not least, in October 2017, I was selected to represent my country, Cyprus, in the European Political Institution of EDS (European democrat students).
My involvement in politics boosted my knowledge and my personal statement. My social network dramatically improved and I boosted chances of being successful in job applications. During the summer of 2016, I joined a local law firm as a trainee for 12 weeks.
Moreover, in June 2017, I was employed by one of the best corporate law firms in Cyprus (GeLaw services) to do a 10-week internship. Also, in September 2017, I became a member of ILA branch (International Law Association) in Cyprus.
In November 2018, as a result of heightening my CV with all these experiences, I felt ready to submit my application for the internship in the European Parliament. When I was filling the relevant form, it was the time that I realised the importance of being an active person and getting experience by taking part in legal and non-legal activities. I was much more confident about my knowledge, my abilities and my chances of being accepted. As I had gained the necessary experience and skills, I was capable enough to prove that I am the right candidate to undertake the internship. Some weeks later, they informed me that I had successfully passed the first stage and that the next step was to conquer the interview. I knew that preparation before the interview was the key to pass the last stage and make my dream come true. Well prepared, confident, focused – that was my plan and I knew that I had to stick on it.
The day of the interview was indeed a special day for me. I had the feeling that nothing could stop me. I did whatever I could to get that offer, and I strongly believed that I deserved the place. I tried to control my nervousness, without showing any sign of worry. To be honest, when the interview started, my nervous disappeared and my confidence overlapped any negative feeling that I may have had. After the interview, I was extremely happy and pleased with myself.
Two weeks later I got the offer by the European Parliament. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. My hard work finally been rewarded.
If I could advise anyone as to the way of succeeding in any relevant application, I would say that “thinking outside the box” and doing unique activities is the best way to impress the employee and get the offer you dream of having. Most of the activities that I have done, look irrelevant to my career, but trust me, those activities were the reason of my success.
A combination of good grades and a unique CV is the key of success.
I am more than happy to offer my assistance to anyone who may need my help in respect of the application or the procedure of any relevant applications.
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