The Costume Corner

The Costume Corner is Newry's Premier Fancy Dress outlet who specialises in all aspects of the costume industry.  They opened in 2005 and have grown to become one of Ireland's Largest Fancy dress outlets.  They cater for all styles, themes and types of events that costumes are required for.  They also have an extensive range of theatrical hire costumes that are available for productions of all kinds. 

 

Student: Niamh Harbinson

At the beginning of my first academic year in SRC I was introduced to Career Academy along with the rest of my class by our Personal Tutor. The whole class was given the opportunity to apply, and we were all linked to the Career Academy website. After looking through the website, and watching a video that our personal tutor showed us, I decided that I should apply for Career Academy, and I am glad that I did.

I was introduced to my Partner in Business (mentor) Glenda Douglas from The Costume Corner which is one of the biggest costume shops/ecommerce contact in Northern Ireland.
Once I met Glenda for the first time, I knew I was going to enjoy taking part in Career Academy.  She helped me to understand that in any business, computers and technology can be very important, and in any business based on computers, a more business sided view is just as important. She told me about her company and about how she managed to schedule it around her own life. It showed me how difficult it can be to run a business and have a separate life outside that, because of how many hours she puts into her work.
When it reached the start of summer I took part in a 6 week long Internship with The Costume Corner. I worked with Glenda and was involved mainly with the website administration. The Costume Corner actually has another side to the business, where costumes are hired out to theatrical groups for shows. This side of the business was called Theatrical Costume Hire, and it had its own separate website. After being shown the basics of how to move around the admin part of the two websites, I was let explore it on my own and become familiar with the system. I thought that it was great that I was being treated like an employee and that I was allowed to learn stuff on my own, as well by getting help when I needed it. When I started my placement I helped out with research, by looking at other websites and taking notes on what I thought worked well. Then I was allowed to make changes to the website and upload images on to the display pages. I helped out with typing up orders and descriptions, and updating these with the different changes as time went by. I also got to research different theatrical groups to find out who would be producing shows to find the stores audience of customers. At the end of my placement I helped with stocktaking, and helped design the spreadsheet that the stock could be marked off on. I thoroughly enjoyed helping with website administration, and it was defiantly different to be involved in the stock taking, as I have never experienced that before.
I really enjoyed my internship with The Costume Corner. I met so many new people who were all really nice and tried to help me have the best experience that I could have. I actually felt a little sad to be leaving at the end, because I felt like I had been welcomed in as part of the team. It has helped me along my path to my future, because although I enjoyed my experience very much, I have decided that web administration is not for me. I found that it is not challenging enough as I like to have a new challenge every week.  If I had not taken part in Career Academy, I would not have known this, because I originally thought I would be very interested in website design and maintenance.

Being part of Career Academy has shown me that you have to try everything before you will know if you like it. It has shown me not to be discouraged by a problem and to ask for help if it is needed. It has helped me be more confident in the work place and that just because I have discovered a certain area of IT is not for me, it doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. Career Academy has shown me that with a good amount of effort and a good attitude, you can do very well in a working environment, and it is even better when you work with people who were as nice as the people I got to work with.